Quidditch Nazi
by Kamuela
Summary: Oliver Wood, a bachelor who has always been an obsessed Quidditch player, suddenly needs a date to a wedding only a month away. Cue Katie Bell, a seventh year student in Hogwarts. Will he ever realize that Quidditch is not the most important thing?
1. The Decision

_Author's Note: _

Hello! I am glad to have caught your attention and I hope you continue to read and I hope you all enjoy! Please feel free to give any advice, thoughts, etc. after you've read. And as a disclaimer, the major characters and plots were created by the fabulous JK Rowling. Without further ado, I will let you go to read.

-Kamuela

Quidditch Nazi

"Wood!"

Oliver Wood, who had been trying to get off the Quidditch Pitch with his broom propped upon his shoulder turned, eyeing the other who had been practicing testily. The practice had not gone well, in Wood's opinion at least. The reserve team of Puddlemere United had spent three hours of that mid June day goofing off, flying in crazy circles, dodging bludgers spiraling out of control after a particularly daft beater hit it too hard. Oliver, who had just bought a Firebolt, had wanted to see what he could accomplish with such an amazing broom. He was extremely disappointed when the rest of his team had decided to call it quits early as it was Friday and there weren't any practices scheduled during the weekend.

"What?" Oliver shot back to the two people who he considered his best friends on the team. One was Finn Lovell, a gangly man two years older than Oliver, who had the position of seeker on the reserve team. The other was Eli Jennings, a stocky blond haired, blue eyed Irishman, about four years older than Oliver. Jennings was one of the chasers on the reserve team and a brilliant one at that.

"Me and Lovell are going to The Blue Vinny. You coming?" The Blue Vinny was the only pub in Puddlemere and it was densely populated each night. Jennings was the one who asked and Oliver only needed a minute to think about it.

"I'm busy today," he responded. Lovell in turn, laughed.

"What are you going to do? Tweeze your ruddy broom?" and with that he cackled with Jennings. Oliver colored to the tip of his hairline and shook his head furiously.

"It's not my fault that bloody beater managed to ruin my brand new broom!" he exclaimed, storming across the field. It was a bit dramatic, even Oliver had to admit, for the only damage done to his broom was a bent straw. Lovell and Jennings followed him and sustained their pestering.

"I must say," said Jennings, "Daniels is a rather talented beater. Who'd of thought that girl could hit a bludger so hard! She hit me once in the jaw when I said that no girl could ever be a beater effectively. My jaw broke instantly and she's never let me live it down."

The group made it into the locker room and Oliver mechanically opened his locker and began to change from his navy blue practice robes into street clothes. Lovell and Jennings continued bickering near his locker, smacking their Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-Ones on the ground when they wished to emphasize their words. Oliver grimaced each time the straw hit the floor and made that swishing noise; he was sure they were going to snap in two! Finally, when Oliver was ready to Disapparate to his flat, he said goodbye to his startled friends.

"What? Leaving?" Lovell questioned at once.

"Yes," Oliver returned, "I have to go home. It's nearly dinner."

Jennings looked down at his wizarding watch. It had tiny stars on the dial. "Blimey, it is almost dinner! What do you lot say that we pack it up and go to the pub then, eh?"

Lovell seemed agreeable. "Precisely what I was thinking." Both heads turned to face Oliver, who looked less than pleased with the idea.

"I have to check for any owls and feed my cat," he returned, placing the locking spell on his locker before balancing his broom on his shoulder.

"Ah that cat barely knows you're alive," Lovell groaned. "And who'd owl you? Firebolts can't write letters, don't you know."

Oliver laughed bitterly. "Ha ha. Just because I'd rather go flying than take a different girl out each night doesn't mean anything."

Lovell lifted his tan hands up, offended. "Hey Woody old pal, I don't go out with more than one girl anymore, remember? It's just me and Imogene." Oliver had known this, as Lovell and Imogene had been engaged for about four months by then, but it was still fun to tease him about that since it obviously hit a tender spot.

"So is Imogene coming to the pub tonight?" Oliver asked with a smirk.

"Well… she's out with one of her girl friends and I told her it'd be just you, me, and Jennings, so no."

Oliver sighed. "Alright. I'll come tonight. I just want to feed my cat and check my mail. I'll be over to The Blue Vinny in about an hour." His two friends congratulated Oliver on a well-made decision before the final plans were made and Oliver Disapparated to his house.

Once Oliver was in his flat, he immediately put his broom in his closet, on the hanging device his mother had ordered for him over Brooms-R-Us. His home was decorated extremely bare, as most of his money was put into buying food and saving up for the Firebolt. Ever since Oliver had had a go on Harry Potter's broom, he wanted a Firebolt for himself. It was so expensive it had taken him up to two years to save up for, but it was all worth it.

Kicking off his shoes, Oliver sat on the couch, an ugly blue plaid contraption that had smelled of wet dog when he bought it. Now, after many air freshener charms, it smelled like 'flowers after an April shower.' Oliver looked about his living room, searching for his cat. The walls had a light yellow color on them that was starkly unusual in exchange to the dark wooden floor. Posters of various famous Quidditch players winked at him while they flew about in the frames on their dated brooms. The coffee table in front of Oliver held up a half-eaten donut of the previous night, the jelly middle seeping onto the plastic plate. There were various Daily Prophet newspapers on the shelf beneath the coffee table and even a few Quibbler newspapers (although Oliver seriously doubted there was a vampire whose name was 'Count Gargamel). Then, on the floor, a little ways away was a wrinkled and uneven woven rug.

When his stomach growled, Oliver stood, stretched, and headed into his just as cluttered kitchen and he searched through the cabinets for an apple. When he found the red fruit, he took a bit out of it and began to continue his search for his cat. Finally, after many minutes of searching and calling out his cat's name in vain, he found the red point Siamese. Oliver laughed. The cat was sitting on top of a cupboard, looking down at him as though he was wondering why he was looking for him, as he was right there. The cat's name was Angus.

"Come 'ere kitty," Oliver said, reaching up and grabbing Angus. The finicky Siamese immediately jumped down from his arms and began rubbing about his master's legs, purring. Oliver got the Siamese his food and then he went into his bedroom to find his owl, Rhiannon. The glossy brown speckled owl hooted when she saw Oliver.

"Any letters today, Rhiannon?" Oliver asked. The owl clicked her beak in response. Oliver reached over to grab the two letters beside the owl and read them quickly. One was from his mom asking if he was still planning on going to his parent's house for Christmas. Wood grabbed a parchment and wrote her back, saying he was planning to go to see them for Christmas but the team might need him so not to make any permanent plans. The other letter was from Fred and George Weasley. It was a large envelope attached to a package wrapped in brown shipping paper. At first, Oliver was concerned to open the letter from the Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes but then he decided it could not be too terrible. He ripped open the envelope and pulled out, reading it instantly. The letters were charmed to flicker different colors every second, making it extremely hard to read.

_Our Dearest Quidditch Nazi:_

_Congratulations on making the reserve team of Quidditch's infamous, Puddlemere United. Let us anticipate they do not have as embarrassing of a season as they had last year. Here's hoping they enjoy dawn practices and a grumpy Keeper when they do not play as intensely and as devotedly. Enclosed is a gift coming from our hearts. God bless._

_Signed,_

_F & G Weasley_

"Quidditch Nazi?" snapped Oliver, looking at his owl indignantly. "I suppose they think it was just pure skill that won them that Quidditch house trophy! No, it was hard-work and dedication!" Rhiannon hooted in response, as if she were soothing her master.

It took a few minutes for Oliver to realize his friends were just teasing him. When his pride finally allowed it, he moved to open the parcel. As soon as it opened, a firework of confetti exploded in his face. Spluttering in surprise, Oliver waved his hands about the mess and saw that there was a small box in the bottom of the confetti debris. After opening this box, Oliver found a miniature figurine of himself, storming about the bottom of the box yelling things like, "Weasley, stop snogging Johnson!" and "Quit talking and start flying!" and "That Quidditch trophy won't win itself, don't-ya-know." Oliver couldn't help but laugh at the familiar Scottish accent emitting from the figure. Oliver grabbed a parchment, scribbled a thank-you note, and gave it to Rhiannon, asking her to deliver it to the red-haired twins after she delivered the other note to his parents.

Finally, after checking that the doors were locked and the windows tightly shut, Oliver Disapparated to the Blue Vinny. When Oliver was outside the pub, he opened the door and stepped inside. The building was made of decaying wood that was painted white with dark brown trimmings against the walls. The insides of the pub were true to the time that it was built –the furnishings were the same too. It was explicitly a pub for the witches and wizards of Puddletown, and it brought a strange lot of them most nights. That night was no different, which the crowd of wizards about the bar table and an ancient-looking witch sitting in the far corner in robes of bright fuchsia and orange striped tights explained. The witch in the corner was letting the dog in her lap drink some of the ale she had in her mug.

Oliver found his friends seated at a table, eating some potato skins. When the two men saw Oliver, they stood and waved, as if it were not obvious that their friend had not already spotted them. Oliver shook his head embarrassedly and sat down at the table.

"Glad you could make it," Jennings said, shoving a whole skin in his mouth at one time. "Yeh wan' a bit'?" he asked with his mouth completely full. Oliver shrugged.

"Sure." He reached forward to grab a skin for himself. He took a tentative bite, as the food looked disgustingly greasy, but found it was to his liking. He popped the rest of the article in his mouth and grinned. "Order me up a beer, then, would you Finn?"

Lovell nodded and sauntered over to the bar table to ask the tender for a tipple. When he returned with the ale, he set it in front of Oliver and the young man took a deep swig of the drink. Within a few minutes of natural talk, Jennings stood up, stretched, and walked over to a table filled with witches who were all looking quite bored with themselves. When he reached the table, he offered a hand and the girls all seemed much more enthused.

"You need a girlfriend," Lovell laughed when he saw Oliver staring openly at the young witches.

"Huh?" When Lovell repeated himself, Oliver shook his head definitely. "No. I could never have enough time for both Quidditch and a girl. And no girl in my mind is more important than Quidditch."

Lovell positively cackled. "No girl more important than Quidditch? Ha! That's exactly what I said before I met Imogene. Now I find myself cutting short my practice time to go be with her and plan for the wedding."

"See? I could never do that," Oliver responded evenly, taking another drink. "I like to practice from sunup to sundown. Sometimes I don't even eat anything until I go to bed because it just seems too trivial to stop and take a break. I had a girlfriend during school and it never worked because she'd always be so angry with me for my dedication of Quidditch and not her. I never knew how to explain it to her because she didn't have a hobby like me. All she had was her friends and herself."

"So that's why you should get yourself a girl that's into Quidditch too, mate," Lovell supplied. "You could both obsess over the sport together. You'd be together all the time if she was as maniacal about it as you, then you'd be set."

"Maniacal! Obsess? I am dedicated. Not obsessed," Oliver retorted. Then, he looked past those two things and thought about what Lovell was actually saying. "Don't even try to hook me up with Daniels. My sources tell me that she and Eli have something going on – if you get what I mean."

Lovell laughed. "Yeah, I think so too, but don't try telling Eli that. He thinks they're just sex-playmates, nothing more. He'll realize soon enough, though."

"Yep." Oliver ran his fingertips along the edge of his glass. "Does Imogene like Quidditch?"

"Hell no," Lovell snickered, "But for me she puts up with it. I mean, I don't really like law, but I put up with her job."

Oliver smirked. "What does she do?"

"Uh, she works in the Ministry of Magic in the Department of International Magical Cooperation. She's part of the International Confederation of Wizards. It's pretty hectic right now on account of the You-Know-Who scare. All the other countries are owling and asking whether this is Britain's type of a 'practical joke' and she has to calm them down and tell them that no, although we all wish that this was just some sort of joke, it really isn't. Speaking of You-Know-Who," Lovell said, "have you seen this?"

He searched for a newspaper, The Daily Prophet, and opened it to the new business section. There was an add for the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. A picture was beside the article of a poster. Brilliant letters spelled: _Why are you worrying about You-Know-Who? You should be worrying about U-No-Poo. The constipation sensation that's gripping the nation._

"You should have seen it when the two owners were in the picture," Lovell declared. "They kept making these awful faces, bursting into canaries, and they would shank each other too. Oliver's mouth opened when he realized just who the 'two owners' were.

"Blimey! Fred and George Weasley?"

"Yep. D'you know them or something?"

"They were on my Quidditch team back at Hogwarts. They were bloody brilliant beaters! Best in the history, I'm betting to say. They helped me win the House Cup – one of my fondest memories." Oliver could hardly stop himself from beaming proudly.

Lovell seemed surprised. "You're going to have to introduce us sometime, then. I hear their store is wicked." Oliver said he would.

While Jennings continued to flirt with the girls, Oliver and Lovell finished the potato skins and ordered some more drinks. It was an enjoyable night after all, Oliver thought contently. It was to neither Oliver nor Lovell's surprise when Jennings was next spotted snogging the witch wearing the designer green robes in the corner of the Blue Vinny at around midnight. Lovell, who had bet Oliver a few galleons that this was who Jennings would pick to snog next, collected his money with a grin.

"I could have sworn it would be the blonde," Oliver said. Lovell merely laughed.

None of them realized how late it was until it was nearing two o'clock. Neither of the two men seated at the table were anxious about time, they did not have any practices until Monday and it was the weekend. However, soon, it became apparent that they had to unhinge Jennings from the woman he was seemingly attached to and go home. Before they could find a path through the mass of tables, chairs, and people, Lovell received an unexpected guest. It was Imogene, her fair skin paler than usual and her blue eyes teary. Her unnaturally white-blonde hair was unkempt and she looked as though she had spent no time to make herself presentable.

"Imogene? What is it?" Lovell stood up and looked at her sharply.

"Lorraine… her husband is dead! The Death Eaters killed him, Finn." And the hysterical woman collapsed in tears. Lovell knelt beside her and wrapped his arms about her. Oliver looked on with anxiety; the night had turned sour in only a moment.

"Eric is dead?" Lovell looked bewildered. "It can't be!"

"Oh it is… Lorraine showed up at our flat crying and I asked her what was wrong and she told me," the blonde-haired witch swallowed harshly. "She received news that he was murdered at work today. I suppose he would not let someone pass during his security shift at the atrium. Who else would kill him then a Death Eater? Oh Finn, I didn't know how to console her, I mean what can you say? I've spent all this night crying with her. To think that Eric is dead is ludicrous. He was your best man for the wedding! He just cannot be…"

She was babbling and Lovell stared at her with wide eyes. Oliver was feeling even more out of place when Jennings hurried over, the witch in the green robes still clutching his arm. Jennings took one look at the devastated couple and then he turned to Oliver.

"What's happened?" he asked in a flash, the lipstick stains on his white shirt forgotten.

"Eric Munch has been killed," Oliver said. He had not thought Imogene could cry any harsher, but she did.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Jennings started. "I just saw him the other day with Lorraine! God, what is going on these days?"

Oliver shrugged, very much wanting to go home. His legs twitched to leave the bar, to leave all the depression and high-emotions. He did not, however, and he watched his friends' faces fill with a turmoil that Oliver shared within his heart but did not show on his face. Finally, in what seemed like hours but in truth was only minutes, Imogene had herself under control, and she stood, trying to smooth out the irreparable wrinkles in her skirt while Lovell wrapped his arms around her waist. The witch that Jennings had been snogging had left already, leaving Jennings awkward and alone. Oliver hated to be the first to break the silence, but he really wanted to go home.

"I better go, it's nearly three o'clock," he muttered, hoping he did not sound too hasty. He did not want his friends to think he was heartless.

"Yeah," Lovell said, looking at his fiancée. "We should too. Are you going to leave Jennings?"

Jennings could only nod. His silence was proof enough something bad had happened. Oliver nodded, his jaw clenched, and he raised a hand in a small wave. A good-bye just felt so final in a time where death was so common. Oliver Disapparated to his home and he showered as soon as he unlocked the front door and entered his extremely dark home. He felt more soiled than if he had just practiced Quidditch.

- - - - - -

Over the next few days, Oliver somehow managed to avoid having to attend the funeral of Eric Munch, but he sent the newly widowed Lorraine Munch a bouquet of lilies and a card that he scribbled a note inside. It was a hard note to write, Oliver decided after he had to charm the card blank many times over again. What was one supposed to say to someone who had just lost their husband? Once again, Oliver felt a deep hatred for the Death Eaters and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. No one should be able to take away so many lives just for power. Oliver tried to practice Quidditch as much as possible. He even charmed a Quaffle to throw itself at him at odd directions and speeds. Many times Oliver caught it, but when his mind suddenly clouded with the trials of late, he missed it and the Quaffle would hit him harshly – usually square in the face.

Finally, a week after Oliver heard the news of Eric Munch's death he met Lovell and Imogene at The Three Broomsticks. After so much time spent outside practicing Quidditch during the last week, Lovell noted, Oliver was so tan from the sun he hardly looked Scottish. They were drinking a round of butterbeers while Imogene voiced what she deemed very exciting news. She was still somber after the death of such a good man, but she was finally trying to return to her normal every day routine. Life goes on.

"We have decided to postpone the wedding for a while due to… well, you know. But we've decided on a date," she said, taking a sip of the drink before tapping her shocking pink painted nails on the edge of the mug.

"What is it?" Oliver asked.

"July 20," Imogene said. It was a month away.

Oliver smiled warmly. "Congratulations."

"That's not even the best part of our news," Imogene replied with a smug grin. "We're not going to have a new best man to honor such a wonderful man, but we're going to have a 'Groom's Assistant' instead. They'll have the same duties, just a different title. Finn chose who he wanted the other day."

Oliver's heart sunk. Surely it wasn't… "It's Eli, then?"

"No," Lovell laughed, "I wouldn't trust him with my ring. It's you."

"Me?" Oliver echoed.

"Yep," Lovell smiled. "You're my best friend, aren't you?" To this, Oliver merely grunted with a half-hazard smile. "So do you agree?"

"Of course," Oliver said. He would not deny his friend such a high offer since it would be so very rude.

After all of the arrangements were made for when Oliver would get the ring (after Imogene had to leave for work, of course), when the reception would be, what he had to do exactly, and when fittings for the dress robes would be, Lovell voiced the fact that Oliver had been trying not to think of all morning.

"Sounds to me like you're going to need a date for the wedding, Mr. Groom's Assistant," Lovell teased. Oliver's cheeks turned red. "I have a cousin…"

"I know just who I am going to go with, thank you," Oliver brushed off brusquely. Lovell nodded.

"Sure. I can't wait to meet the lucky little lady." Neither could Oliver.

He stood and the friends shook hands before they went their separate ways. Oliver went straightaway to Diagon Alley where he planned to figure out just who his date would be. Despite a (what he hoped) cool persona to his good friend, Oliver had no clue who he was going to ask to be his date to the wedding. He could go single, but it would be embarrassing to have to walk down the aisle alone. When he was just going to be a guest he was okay, he could be okay single just sitting somewhere – hopefully out of the public eye. Now… being the Groom's Assistant changed everything!

Diagon Alley was extremely vacant, Oliver found to his surprise. He would have thought that being summer it would be filled with teenagers and pre-teens running about trying to find a way to break the 'no magic' rule for underage wizards. However, it was filled with only a sparse amount of people, and all of these people walked in tight clusters. Even some of the shops were closed; the boarded windows suggested that they would be closed for a long time. When Oliver made it to the new store of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, he pushed his way into the store. Oliver accidentally knocked over a huge display of different charmed Quills and he cursed, trying to set them all back up before anyone could notice his act of clumsiness.

"Oh don't bother, sir," came a voice, and Oliver looked up to see a man with bright red hair flick his wand. The display came together again. The man (Fred or George, Oliver could not tell) gaped at his newest costumer. "Merlin's beard, is that you Wood?"

"In flesh," Oliver retorted. "It's nice to see you again…uh—"

"George," replied the proud store owner. He seemed to pop his expensive crocodile skin jacket. "It's been long. Nice to see you haven't forgotten about your former teammate."

George was only kidding, but Oliver flushed and tried to make a good excuse but just ended in stammering like a fool.

"Don't worry about it," George replied with a vague wave of his hand. "Oi! Fred! Get your arse over here!" The mirror image of George Apparated just before the two, and his eyebrows nearly disappeared in his shaggy red hair.

"Wood? No, it can't be!" Fred staggered about with his hand on his heart. "So you haven't forgotten me! You're welcome for the Quidditch Nazi figurine. It's one of our most popular toys." Fred gestured to the display tin of boxes with figurines that looked like Oliver. "Once you open the package they begin to yell at you to keep practicing and do your work. Hope you're not mad, buddy."

Oliver was stunned to say the least. "No… I'm not mad…"

"Good," Fred said. "Are you glad you got the first 'Quidditch Nazi' figure?"

"I didn't know those existed," Oliver spluttered. "I thought you just made me one for… well for old time's sake."

"It was actually Forge's idea," Fred said. George gave a little bow. "Yes, yes. We're counting on you becoming a famous Quidditch player now, Wood." Oliver nodded.

"I'll get right on that, then."

"No slacking off," George snapped. He looked positively joyous afterward. "I've always wanted to tell you that." Oliver chuckled a little. Fred elbowed him harshly in the ribs.

"Don't mind him; he's just been locked up in the lab in the back trying to perfect our day dreaming pills. We're trying to get the user to be able to day dream about anything. Killing You-Know-Who, snogging that irresistibly fine teacher, or even being the Minister of Magic. Right now, the only thing that happens is the user gets a little woozy; hence, George's eyes are out of focus and his swaying stance – typical for as of this moment. Come our break-through and this should be extremely popular, mark my word! I'll give you the first finished product. Maybe you can dream of being famous, eh?" Fred's tone was merely banter.

"So did you come here to buy something, or for something else?" asked George airily with a keen likeness to Professor Trelawney.

"Is premonition a…" Oliver began but Fred nodded and interrupted him.

"Another side effect. Perhaps we should send Trelawney a batch of the unfinished version, eh?" Fred laughed. "So there is something else you came here for?" Oliver nodded reluctantly. The twins were in very good moods and Oliver knew that was bad for him. They were doubtlessly going to make fun of him for the rest of his life.

"I'm the Groom's Assistant for one of my friend's weddings and… well, I need a date."

"Awe shucks," Fred piped up, "I'll be honored to take you!"

"Not you, you dolt," Oliver snapped.

"Then me?" George flittered about, flapping his hands in front of his eyes. "Why I always knew there was chemistry between us on the pitch but not _that_ kind of chemistry!"

"Not you either," Oliver said. He sighed. This was only going to get worse. "Have you talked to any of the old chasers lately?"

Fred's face suddenly turned serious. "You aren't thinking of taking Angelina are you? Because we're going out steadily." Oliver knew this and he shook his head.

"And I'm going out with Alicia so you're not taking her," George piped up. Both Oliver and Fred faced George with incredulous looks on their faces.

"You are?" Oliver and Fred asked at once. Then, Fred's face lightened.

"The pills are finally starting to work!" Fred rejoiced. Oliver was clearly lost so Fred clued him in hastily. "George has been trying to buck up the courage to ask Alicia out ever since the Yule Ball when Alicia went with that Ravenclaw cad."

Oliver nodded before he assured them that he did not want to go with neither Alicia nor Angelina. He spoke too soon, for the process of elimination left only Katie Bell. When Oliver realized this, his cheeks turned a brilliant red.

"Katie Bell, then," Fred said. Oliver thought a moment about denying, but as it went too far already, he only nodded. "So I suppose you want to know if she's still dating that awful Hufflepuff, Chad Mc-What's-His-Name." Oliver nodded again. "No, she's not. They broke up after the end of her sixth year when she realized she was too good for snarl-tooth Magee. So then, are you going to pop the big question?"

Oliver blushed yet again and tried to hide his embarrassment. "Well, uh, I was thinking about it."

"She likes long walks under the moonlight, her favorite candy is the licorice wand, and she likes to eat at Madam Puddifoot's," George said, monotone.

"Err, thanks George," Oliver said. George gave a shrug. Oliver breathed deeply. "So, if I asked her, do you think she'd want to go with me?"

"Sure," Fred said, surveying his ex Quidditch captain. "I mean, you aren't that bad looking, and if you just smiled a little more often and actually made an attempt to crack a joke and didn't obsess so much over Quidditch…"

"Katie likes Quidditch too, though," Oliver defended.

"She does, but that's not all she wants to talk about," George said in a very shrink-ish way. "She's a girl, remember."

"Thank you Doctor Forge," Fred said. "You're really feeling it, aren't you bud?" George shrugged. "If you need anything else, you can come back tomorrow, but Wood, as you can see, we're extremely busy business folk. Write us a letter – would you darling? Ciao."

And with that, Oliver was left alone to stare at the love potion. It would be so much easier, but with a final decision, he decided to ask Katie to the wedding the old fashion way. The dangerous way. Because of all things, Oliver Wood was no coward! He dodged bludgers, caught Quaffles with his teeth if he had to, barked at his team millions of times to get them to win the cup (which they did), passed the strenuous try-outs of Puddlemore United, and played Quidditch in front of thousands of people. He even stood out McGonagall's wrath after he told her he did not care if Harry rode a broom that may be cursed because as long as Harry could catch the Snitch on it, nothing else mattered. Therefore, Oliver assured himself, asking Katie out should be easy.

- - - - - -


	2. The Date

_Author's Note:_

_Thank you all so much for you reviews! I hope everyone enjoys this new chapter, it's a little later than I had planned, but life got hectic all ofa sudden. You know how it is I'm sure. Please read and don't forget to review and tell me what you think! _

-Kamuela

- - - - - -

He was hunched over his desk for most of the next day, scribbling away on a parchment before he read it again and then tossed it onto the floor in disgust. Oliver had assured himself that this would be easy, that this would be nothing in comparison to all the other things he had faced, but it was not easy and he kept telling himself he would rather face twenty-five vicious McGonagalls rather than construct a seemingly horrible letter. Scratching his head, he read over the first part of his letter:

_Katie,_

_Hey, it's Oliver, you know your old Quidditch captain at Hogwarts. Sorry about the last 3 years without hearing from me, I've been busy. Well, not too busy to owl you, but you know… or maybe you don't know. Let me fill you in --_

Oliver seriously doubted Katie wanted to read about everything that happened to him for the past three years. Crumpling the letter in his hands, he tossed it into the garbage can underneath the desk, which was growing larger as the minutes wore on. Maybe he should just ask Lovell if that cousin of his is still available to go to the wedding with. Oliver ground his teeth. He was not desperate! He was not going to go to the wedding with Lovell's cousin! That would be worse than going alone. He had to treat writing this letter as if he were guarding a goal on the Quidditch pitch. He had to look for the Quaffle while dodging the bludgers and ignoring the yells from the stadium. In other words, he had to look forward to her saying yes while dodging all of the stupid mistakes he could make in one ruddy letter.

"Identify, predict, decide, execute," Oliver muttered as he summoned a new piece of paper and he began to write again.

It took about two hours to draft the final letter and when he re-read it, he was pleased. Sure, there were some parts where he felt could be better, but he was no author, he was a Quidditch player and Katie would understand. Hopefully. Oliver read the letter once more:

_Katie,_

_Hi, it's Oliver. I hope you're good, going into your last year at Hogwarts must be exciting – I remember mine. I hope that something as good as winning the Quidditch house cup happens to you! It's been really long since we've seen each other and I was wondering if you'd like to meet me at Madam Puddifoot's on Saturday at noon. It should be fun. Owl me back and tell me what you think._

_-Oliver_

It was short and abrupt. Oliver knew that if he looked at the letter long enough he'd find another glaring error in it, so he sealed it into an envelope and wrote Katie's name on the front. He handed the letter to Rhiannon, who had been staring at her master for the past two hours as though he had gone insane. Oliver told Rhiannon who to give it to and then he opened the window for her and she flew away swiftly, almost as though she were afraid Oliver would change his mind again.

After sitting a moment in an unnerving silence, Oliver grabbed his broom and headed outside to fly. He hoped Katie didn't take too long to answer his letter. He hoped she didn't say no. Perhaps he should have written that he'd like her to write as soon as possible. No, that would have sounded desperate… Maybe he should have written about the wedding. What if George was wrong in saying that she liked Madam Puddifoot's? What if she hated the place? What if she was going out with someone else? What if she hated _him_?

Oliver was outside by then and he mounted his broom and kicked off the ground. The day was brilliant; the sun was out and shining bright while there weren't any clouds in the sky and a soft breeze blew serenely. The Firebolt easily shot into the air and most of Oliver's worries disappeared after a few laps around his flat.

The next day, after Oliver had managed to convince himself that Katie would doubtlessly say no to his offer of a date and laugh at him, Rhiannon returned with a letter in her beak. At once, Oliver began pacing. When Rhiannon nipped him sharply after dropping the letter on the nearby desk, Oliver stopped his frantic behavior and picked up the letter. He took a deep breath and opened it. Her neat cursive met his eyes and he frantically read the letter.

_Dear Oliver,_

_It was so nice to hear from you! I've missed the good days with the old Quidditch team – no one will ever be that good again. It's was very odd without your practices last year and it'll be even odder without Fred and George next year. I cannot wait to graduate, it just isn't as fun with all of you. Anyway, you asked if I wanted to go to lunch with you and I'd be glad to. It should be very fun, like old times when we would go to the Three Broomsticks instead Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, and Lee won't be there, only you and me and we'll be in Madam Puddifoot's instead. I can't wait to see you!_

_-Katie_

To say that Oliver was thrilled was an understatement. He gave short laugh, staring at the letter in his hands with unfamiliar eyes, and then he put the letter back into the envelope and acted as if he were not surprised. He crammed his hands in his pockets before he walked into the kitchen to find Rhiannon a little treat for her venture. It was Friday, Oliver couldn't help but remind himself after he gave the treat to his owl and she flew upstairs to her cage. That meant he had twenty-four hours until he would be able to see Katie. Twenty-four hours until his stomach was a mass of knots from nervousness. Suddenly, Oliver remembered just why he had only had one girlfriend during his stay at Hogwarts. He was a nervous mess. Before Quidditch matches, he was known to bite anyone's head off, throw up, or turn white in the face. Before a date, Oliver was even worse.

- - - - - -

Oliver was surprised that he arrived to Madam Puddifoot's on time. The past night had been disagreeable as he had been restless and tossed until 2 am. The morning was no better; at first, the water in the shower was too cold so Oliver charmed it to be hot. His charm wore off in the middle of the shower and he was covered in icy water yet again. Then, Oliver managed to spill syrup down his front and the sticky mess was hard to clean off even with the spell his mother taught him for stains. Finally, Oliver could not locate his left shoe and he had to use a summoning charm to get it. At his luck that day, Katie would forget that she had promised to meet him for lunch, Oliver decided miserably.

He was wrong. When Oliver reached the small and cramped café, he saw Katie seated in one of the outside tables, reading a menu while the umbrella shading over the table spun magically, dropping glitter over the scene. Katie was looking very pretty, Oliver noted. She wore a fitted pink shirt that read "The Weird Sisters" in black calligraphy and a short jean fraying skirt with black lacy capri leggings underneath. She looked around for a moment and then she saw Oliver. She gave a small wave and smiled.

"Hey!" she called. Oliver hurried over.

"Hi," he responded. Her blue eyes twinkled happily. "Did you order anything yet?"

"Just a drink. I got you water, too," Katie replied. Oliver took a seat and Katie handed him a menu. His eyes skimmed over the menu easily and he started the topic of what her favorite meal was at the café, trying to decide which of the foods he should eat. As he had not had many dates in Hogwarts, he never ate at Madam Puddifoot's, he preferred the Three Broomsticks in honesty.

"Well," Katie said, "the dumplings are pretty good if you like the gravy here. Then the tomato soup is great – same with the lentil, but it is awfully hot to be eating soup, don't you think? Too late for a breakfast I think too so the eggs are out of the question. Hmm… I think I'll get the fish and chips. They're good. What will you have?"

"I'll get the dumplings with chicken. That sounds good." Oliver and Katie placed their orders on the floating piece of paper and it hurried into the back to be made by the chef. Once their orders were made it seemed that all conversations had left the pair and Oliver was sent into nervousness. His hands started sweating immediately and he rubbed them on his pants perpetually.

His mind was racing from what George had told him at the Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes and Quidditch. George had said Katie did not want to talk merely about Quidditch for hours on end. Such a thing would be so easy because Oliver was so familiar with it and it was not awkward at all. Oliver was saved for the time being when Katie began the next conversation but his hands did not stop sweating.

"I'm so worried for my N.E.W.T.'s this year," she confessed. A breeze blew harshly and Katie's hands found her hair to smother behind each ear.

"Mine were easy because I had told McGonagall during the career advice meeting that I planned on becoming a pro-Quidditch player so I just took easy classes in addition to being the Quidditch captain. What job are you training towards?"

Katie blushed. "Well, I really want to be a Healer at St. Mungo's after everything that's been happening… you know… with You-Know-Who hurting people. I want to help the good people survive; I'm just too chicken to actually fight. But it's such a hard course! I have to get at least an E in all of my classes to be accepted into the healer schooling."

Oliver nodded. He had known that out of the three chasers Katie had been the most studious. Maybe not the smartest, for Alicia and Angelina had earned their good marks, but definitely the most academically inclined. "Have you talked to Alicia or Angelina lately?" Oliver asked. Katie nodded.

"Of course. You know that Alicia is a journalist for _Witch Weekly_, right?" Katie asked. Oliver shook his head immediately. Playing for the reserve team had taken up most of his time; he had nearly forgotten what a social life was!

"No, I didn't. How's she doing?"

"Good. She's starting her own column, she told me. It's going to be called _Which Witch_ and it's basically a gossip column." Katie giggled. "She's already interviewed Fred and George for the first publication. Fred told me that it was basically just a snog-fest for our two dear friends." Oliver laughed.

"Yeah, when I last saw Fred and George, George expressed his wants for going out with Alicia 'steadily'. I suppose he got his wish then, eh?" said Oliver. He ran his fingers through his short hair tensely; Katie's hair was flying in the wind and the young wizard thought she looked especially good.

"Oh they aren't dating steady or so Alicia tells me. 'We're just friends' are her exact words, which is bologna in my opinion. They obviously like each other, so why do they hide it? Just because Alicia is afraid of commitment doesn't mean George is…" and Katie's eyes flashed heatedly. "Well, you asked about Angelina too, right?"

Oliver nodded hesitantly; he had not expected Katie's temper to run thin after just speaking of one of her good friends. Perhaps Quidditch would have been a less… intense conversation. Still, there was no stopping Katie, who was on a mission to express every emotion on her mind to her old friend.

"Angelina is fine, too. She's still a sarcastic joker. She's working for Gringott's right now as a desk secretary. I dunno what she really wants to do, but it's not that. The last time she and Fred argued, she told him that she was quitting that she was going to start work at Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop soon. You know Gambol and Japes is Fred and George's major competition in the joke shop area. Fred was less than pleased." A smile formed on Katie's mouth and Oliver couldn't help laughing at the wicked appearance.

"I would think he would be mad since they are going out, right?"

"Yes they are. Ever since the Yule Ball, they've been seeing each other on and off until Fred asked her to be his steady girlfriend. It was a riot, the asking. He didn't have the nerve to ask her in person so he sent her a letter, a Howler actually, and I was at Angelina's house when it arrived. She was so confused when she saw the red envelope and when she opened it up there was Fred's voice, yelling at the top of his lungs at how much he liked her. I nearly died laughing," Katie chuckled at the memory fondly. She arched her back before she slouched.

"Speaking of Fred and George, they told me that you went into their shop earlier this week talking about 'the chasers'," Katie said, twirling the straw in her drink idly. Oliver, who had been unfolding the napkin at his place dropped all of the silverware on the floor noisily and immediately blushed.

"Oh, have they?" he asked, reaching down to pick up the fallen items. Katie nodded.

"They wouldn't tell me what you said about us, but I want to know!"

"Oh, nothing much… just missing the old days, y'know…"

"We've always wondered why you never kept in touch with us, Oliver," Katie said. "Were you too busy?"

Oliver shook his head hastily. "Of course not. I just… it was a little weird. You, Angelina, Alicia, Fred, and George were a group, and then it was me and Harry whose age difference – let's face it, was quite large. I just never thought that I was very close to any of you. We're friends, I know, but it would be just too weird to write a letter. I wouldn't know what to say."

Katie shrugged. "You could have just said hi. It's not a big deal, though," she commented hastily, "We didn't write you either."

In that opportune moment, the food arrived. Both of the plates were floating to them slowly so none of the food would drop in the process. The plates settled at the wrong spots and the pair immediately traded, their hands bumping in the process. Katie murmured a 'sorry' and her cheeks reddened while Oliver seemed too stunned to respond. While they ate their meal, Katie asked Oliver how he was doing, and for the first time during the date Oliver did not feel self-conscious about what he should say and he felt at ease.

He talked about the last games that the Puddlemore United team had played in; how he secretly hoped the first-string keeper would fall off his broom so Oliver could play. Katie laughed at this and Oliver shrugged nonchalantly. Then, Oliver told Katie about the Firebolt that he had managed to save up for, and she seemed sincerely interested. By the time he got to talking about his new friends, both Katie and Oliver were finished with their meals. Oliver knew he had to ask Katie to the wedding soon or else she would want to leave and his chance would be gone. Therefore, while he was speaking of his teammate, Lovell, he spoke of the wedding.

"Oh, so he's getting married?" Katie asked. Oliver nodded.

"Yeah. Her name's Imogene Hennessey and she's really nice."

"Well congratulations to your friend," Katie smiled. "You'll have to give them my best wishes." Oliver nodded and casually waved his hand about.

"The wedding is on July 20."

"It's only a month away? You must be excited," Katie said.

"Yeah… I am. Err… are you doing anything July 20?" Oliver rung his hands tensely, trying to keep from avoiding contact with the blue eyes of Katie Bell.

"Are you asking me out, Oliver Wood?"

Katie looked ready to laugh, but when her eyes fell upon the hesitant young man, she stifled her snicker sympathetically. He truly looked like a nervous wreck, his eyes were darting from her face to something in the distance, and the whole table was nearly shaking from his twitching foot. She would never have guessed that someone as attractive as her old Quidditch captain would be afraid of asking out _her_. He had gone out with Odette Ellsworth, probably one of the prettiest girls in Gryffindor during Katie's stay at Hogwarts. It was nearly unthinkable that the strict Quidditch captain would ask her out. Yet here he was, stuttering like a fool, nervous, blushing, and he had asked her what she was doing a month in advance. Yes, it did sound like the Quidditch Nazi was asking her out.

"Of course not! I mean, unless you'd say yes and then… maybe I'm asking you out… yeah err, I am asking you out." Oliver flinched, expecting the worst, a big fat '_no_'.

When he finally made eye contact with Katie Bell, however, he was surprised – no shocked, that she was not only free of any sneer of disgust, but she was smiling brightly. At once, Oliver's heart lifted and he felt extremely hopeful. Perhaps she would say yes. Immediately, a part of Oliver cheered enthusiastically, all the nerves, nausea, and tension was gone. He was purely happy.

"Yes, I'll go with you to the wedding, Oliver," Katie said in a light voice. "It should be fun." Oliver smiled clumsily and Katie giggled at his appearance. "Don't act so surprised."

"I'm going to be the 'Groom's Assistant' which is like the best man since what happened to Eric," Oliver said. Katie nodded. "But that doesn't mean you have to do anything. Just walk down the aisle and stand beside the maid of honor, which is Imogene's sister. Or if you don't even want to stand up in front of everyone I'm sure you could sit down… I mean this is quite short notice for you and I wouldn't want you to pass out or be embarrassed or nervous or…"

"Standing is fine, Oliver," Katie supplied easily, smiling lightly at how anxious her good friend was acting. "What are the colors for the wedding?"

"The… colors?"

"Yeah. The bride usually picks two colors that she wants everyone to wear. Or to match at least. Me having to stand in front of everyone probably means that she wants me to dress accordingly. Or is she having dress robes made for everyone to match?" asked Katie. Oliver was clueless.

"I… am… not sure." Oliver's eyebrows were arched in deep concentration. "I didn't even know people set colors for their weddings… when my aunt go married it was in her living room and we just kind of put lilies everywhere and the guests sat on the sofa and they just wore whatever they happened to be in that day."

Katie could barely keep the roar of laughter within her throat. Oliver was certainly incompetent when it came to women and fashion of any kind. "Well," Katie amended after she had controlled herself, "when you find out you can owl me."

Oliver nodded. "Sure."

"Good," Katie beamed brightly. "I really am looking forward to this second date with you. Or maybe we can hang out before the wedding, hmm?"

Oliver gave a crooked grin in return. "Yeah, maybe we can."

"We could go to the movies," Katie murmured and before Oliver could respond, the bill came floating to their table. Oliver reached in his pocket, pulled out the said amount of money before a short and round witch burst out of the main café, and took the money, questioning if their food was good and whatnot. Oliver and Katie reassured the woman that their food was superb and the lady thanked them for coming and left. The couple stood up and claimed they had to leave a few seconds later. Oliver, wondering what he should do to say goodbye did not have to think long. Katie Bell threw her arms about Oliver and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek while standing on the tips of her toes.

"'Bye," Katie said.

"G'bye."

With that, Katie hurried away, her loose blonde hair blowing madly in the breeze while Oliver stood staring after her with a quite giddy look upon his face. He did not have to go with Lovell's cousin. He was going with the girl whom he was attracted to. He had asked her out successfully. Suddenly, Oliver felt as though he was the king of the world and he knew just where he wanted to go to brag, the Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes.

- - - - - -

"…and then she talked about going to the 'movies'," Oliver recited the date to a listening George. It seemed he had been testing the day dreaming pills, for his eyes were glazed over and he seemed to be saying more ingenious things than usual.

"It's a muggle thing, mate."

Oliver whirled about in his seat and saw that Fred was standing there looking quite proud in a Swedish Short-Snout dragon skin jacket. The blue colored scales on the jacket gleamed underneath the light. Fred popped the collar and grinned.

"Oh, you like it? Forge got a red one: Chinese Fireball. They were expensive, but well worth the purchase," Fred said proudly.

"It's like three hundred degrees outside, though," Oliver declared incredulously.

"Oh, don't you know? Dragon skin has a particular spell on it to keep the wearer at a perfect temperature. It has both heating and cooling ability. It's quite handy, actually," Fred said. "Now about the 'movies' that Katie talked about, it's a muggle thing. They stare at this large screen and use this light to flash pictures onto it at a fast speed so that it looks like it is moving. Quite first century era if you ask me, but you know, muggles are never that smart."

Katie Bell was muggle-born. She was the first in her whole family to show any magical powers. Her abilities of a witch were quite astonishing to her parents. Her mother accepted it with pride but her father rejected it. He did not want his daughter going to Hogwarts as he thought that anything to do with magic was the devil's work and he thought that all of the wizard population was a bunch of freaks. Ultimately, Katie's parents divorced after they were unyielding to each other's opinions. Katie was touchy about the topic but had told it to the Quidditch team when she was in second year. She still did not talk about her father much and she never contacted him. She lived with her mother, who was fascinated with everything Katie did at school.

Oliver, being a pure-blood, could hardly understand anything she talked about, from 'phones' to 'television' to 'computers'. He had completely given up trying to ask Katie about each other the things long ago, since he would never understand why exactly the muggles just did not take a picture of something funny so the people in the picture could do the funny thing repeatedly. He just did not understand muggles most of the time.

"Trust me, Wood," Fred said, "You won't like it. Talk about boring."

"Snooze fest," George said before he yawned.

Oliver nodded. "I wouldn't do that. I was thinking about inviting her over to my flat so we could—"

"Have wild sex in the bath?" Fred suggested.

"Smear whipped cream all over your bodies and lick it off each other?" George asked. Both Fred and Oliver stared at George.

"That's just sick," Fred stated with a shake of his head.

"What?" George demanded. "What's so bad about that?"

It only took a moment for Wood to change the direction of the conversation. "Actually, I thought we could go flying around my flat. There are some really nice sceneries since I live in a rural area."

"Very romantic," Fred agreed. George nodded.

"Yeah, it is." He looked pensive. "It would be a nice place to ask someone to go out with them steady, huh?" His brows furrowed. "Mind if Alicia and I join the two of you?"

It was the first of George's ideas that day which Oliver thought was good. "That might be nice," Oliver said. "Katie would probably like it, spending time with her friends. Would you want to go Fred, with Angelina?"

It took no time for Fred to nod. "It sounds good to me."

"When do you want to go?" asked Oliver.

Fred and George exchanged identical looks. George turned back to Oliver with a very business-like smile while Fred grabbed the collar of his jacket with both hands.

"We'll owl you with the details. We need to find a time when it won't be busy and we can close the shop for a few hours on the same day that the girls aren't busy," George replied. Oliver nodded.

"Okay. Well, just get back to me on that. I better leave to my house, then."

The three said goodbye and Oliver Disapparated to his house, clearly pleased with how well his day had went. What more could he ask for? Not only had he set a date with Katie for the wedding, but he had another possible date and they would be flying, which was one of Oliver's favorite past times, of course. Oliver grinned to himself as he stepped inside his house. Things were definitely going his way.

- - - - - -


	3. The Interview

_Author's Note:_

Hello again! I hope you are enjoying this story as much as I am enjoying writing it! This chapter was very fun to write and it took a little more time than I had originally planned, but I hope the wait was worth it! If you have any questions or comments, review please, or you could PM me... either way works. On a side note, I didn't really agree with the movie portrayal of Alicia Spinnet, so you're forwarned that my opinion does not follow the movie canon, okay? That's it... I hope you enjoy!

-Kamuela

- - - - - -

The date that everyone decided upon to go to Oliver's and fly around his flat was July 1. Therefore, the day before Oliver spent most of his time cleaning up and trying to make his bachelor pad a bit more presentable. It was respectively cleaner after a few hours. Before he went to sleep that night, Oliver got a letter from Imogene and she talked about when they were going to be fitted for their dress robes, and how she had chosen her colors: fuchsia, and white. It surprised Oliver that Katie was right that there were 'colors' in weddings. After her 'movie' suggestion, he had thought that 'colors' were also a Muggle thing. Oliver wrote back to her and thanked her for the information and then he went to bed.

The morning of July 1 was extremely bright and sunny. In other words, it was hot and muggy, from the rain of a few days ago. Nevertheless, it was a nice day for flying Oliver thought. After showering and dressing in jeans and a t-shirt that said 'Puddlemore' on it, Oliver grabbed a pastry for breakfast. Just as soon as he had finished eating, there came a knock on the door. Oliver knew it had to be Katie, for he invited her over earlier than he invited the others over. Immediately, he hopped to his feet and hurried to get the door, his heart fluttering excitedly. When the door was open, Oliver saw Katie. She was dressed in ratty jeans and a bright pink halter top, her hair in two long braids.

"Hey," Katie said. In her hands, Oliver noted, was a large Tupperware bowl, her broom was propped against her shoulder.

"Hi Katie," Oliver said, "It's so nice to see you again."

"Yeah, it is," Katie agreed with a smile. "I really like your house, it's so pretty."

Oliver laughed. "Thanks, but you should know it wasn't too 'pretty' last night."

Katie giggled and handed Oliver the bowl in her hands. "My mum made some chocolate tortes for us."

"Cool," Oliver replied. "Here, we can put them on my dining room table." He took the bowl from Katie and she followed him into her dining room before he put the bowl on his scrubbed wooden dining room table. He pulled out a chair for her and they sat. "The others should be here soon."

Katie nodded. "Just so you know Alicia might be in a bad mood."

"Why?" asked Oliver. Katie glowered.

"George is being an arse," Katie said.

"What? Why do you say that?" Oliver was shocked. It was the last thing he needed at his little gathering at his house: For the girls to be mad at George. It was almost as bad as some of the Quidditch practices at Hogwarts!

"Yeah," Katie seethed, "he hired an assistant at his store. _A girl!_ Alicia went over there the other day to get a picture of the workers in front of their store for her column, and there was a new worker. A blonde bimbo witch named Verity. Can you believe it? The _nerve_ of them!" She said the witch's name as if it were the stupidest sounding name in the world.

"They probably just needed more help and hired the first person who…"

"No, why didn't they just hire Lee? Because George wanted to hire Verity!" Katie clenched her fists and gave Oliver a raging look. "Alicia came over to my house after she shot the picture of the twins and Verity and she was fuming mad! I'd never seen her so mad."

Oliver suddenly felt bad for George. Alicia was never one to 'forgive and forget' soon. "Is she still coming here?"

"Of course," Katie said primly, "you don't think she'd be rude and not come to your house party just because of them, do you?"

Oliver's facial expression fell. "She does know George is coming too, right?"

"Yes."

"And she's okay with that?"

"Of course she's not okay with that, but she still wanted to come," Katie said. "Honestly, Oliver, I'd think you'd be on our side for this."

"I'm not really on anybody's side," Oliver assured, "I just don't want them to be fighting at my house and ruining such a nice day."

"Oh, Alicia will be fine. She's very sophisticated," Katie smiled. Oliver was still concerned but he changed the subject eagerly.

"Imogene owled me yesterday," Oliver said. Katie looked up.

"Yeah?"

"Yep. She says the colors are fuchsia and white."

"Good choices! They'll look brilliant in the wedding reception," Katie said.

"Yeah. Err, the fittings are on July 10 at Madam Malkin's."

"I can hardly wait to meet Imogene," Katie said. "I hope she likes me."

"I'm sure she will," Oliver reassured. Katie positively beamed.

The pair sat on Oliver's sofa while they waited for the others to get to his flat, and they talked about everything ranging from Quidditch to Quidditch. It was quite enjoyable, especially for Oliver, who was explaining to Katie the great new plays he and Lovell had made up over the past week. She looked interested. They decided they should split into groups during their flying when the others arrived, to play a round of Quidditch.

When there was a knock at the door, Oliver stood and answered it swiftly. When the door was open, it revealed Angelina and Alicia. Alicia was sporting a new haircut. Her once waist-length hair was now in layers cut around her chin and fringes above her eyes. Her hair looked a few shades lighter. She was in red capris and a black t-shirt that showed her pierced belly button, which had a dangly piece of jewelry in it. Angelina looked just as she always did; her style was quite sporty. She was in a pair of white shorts and a dark blue tank top that said 'Chaser' across the front with a Quaffle on the back. Both of them had their brooms.

"Ooh, you got your hair cut!" Katie cheered from the other side of the room. Katie ran over and gave Alicia a hug. "You look smashing, darling. Both of you do, actually." The girls giggled. If there was one thing Oliver did not understand, it was why girls found everything so funny when they were together.

"Err," said Oliver, "d'you want to sit down before Fred and George get here?" he asked. Alicia gave a haughty eye roll at the mention of 'George' but she nodded and joined Katie and Angelina on the sofa.

Oliver got the girls glasses of water while they were waiting, and he listened to the girls gossiping. He was silent, listening with a friendly (or so he hoped) look on his face while his fingers froze while he held his ice cold glass. It did not take long for another knock to erupt against the front door. It revealed to be Fred and George, clad in their dragon skinned jackets and holding brand new Nimbus brooms. When George saw that Alicia had cut her hair, his eyes seemed to bug out of his head and he began to sputter incomprehensible words. Alicia did not even look at George, let alone say hello to him. The other two girls followed Alicia's lead and they said a grim 'hello' to Fred but paid George no attention. Oliver stood in the middle of the room and cleared his throat with authority. All eyes turned to him.

"If you all would want to go outside, Katie and I thought it would be fun to play a round of Quidditch. I'll be one captain and… Angelina can be the other one," Oliver said. He secretively wanted Katie on his team, so he didn't make her one of the captains.

"Well I'm on Angelina's team," Fred declared. Angelina shot him a smile, which he returned importantly. Alicia stood up.

"I'm going to be too," she said, eyeing George snootily.

"So that means Katie and George are on my team," Oliver said. He was actually quite thrilled the teams had worked out so well. Not only were Alicia and George on separate teams, Katie was on his team.

The six walked outside and saw that what Oliver had said was true; his house was quite rural. There were only several houses visible in the distance and they were about a mile away. There were trees all over and it looked very nice. Oliver told them that wizards owned those houses, as it was a wizarding community so they did not need to worry of being seen. Since Oliver was such a Quidditch fanatic, he had three hoops on each end of his yard (measured to the standards of the rules); set up just like a Quidditch pitch. When they were all out on the practice field, both the teams came up with strategies. Oliver was the keeper of his team; Katie and George were the chasers. There were not any beaters or seekers; it was just a chaser/keeper game. On the other side, Fred was the keeper and Angelina and Alicia were the chasers.

"Okay then," Oliver called, throwing the Quaffle high into the air, "let's begin."

Angelina made a spectacular grab of the Quaffle and she spiraled off with it tucked underneath her arm. She threw the red object to Alicia swiftly. The pair began throwing back and forth amongst themselves until they were at the goals and Angelina faked a throw to Alicia before she aimed and tried to shoot into the far left goal. Oliver had not even been fazed by the play; he caught the Quaffle easily with a challenging smile on his face.

"You're going to have to be better than that," he taunted, "A first year could've caught that!"

"I seriously doubt it," Angelina retorted with a playful grin. Oliver threw the Quaffle to Katie, and the chasers were off down the other side of the pitch.

Katie threw the Quaffle to George, who caught it just barely, and the two flew very close together. Right at the hoops, George handed the Quaffle to Katie, and they separated. Fred, not being a well-trained keeper since his position was a beater, was confused and he followed George. When the goals were not blocked, Katie tossed it easily through and the girl punched the air victoriously while Oliver cheered on the other end.

"Now _that's_ how you do it," he yelled. "Katie, if you don't make it to healing school, I think Puddlemore would like to have you as a player!" Katie blushed at such a high compliment from Oliver. The others noticed but did not say anything while Fred threw the Quaffle to Angelina.

"Just watch and learn, Wood," she muttered as she sped off down the pitch, Alicia right behind her. "Alicia, remember what we did that one time? Called the catapult?" she called. Alicia's face lit up and she nodded. Angelina threw the Quaffle to Alicia, who hurled it straight up as soon as she caught it. Oliver watched on interestedly, he had no clue what was going on. Angelina dived to catch the Quaffle before it touched the ground, tilted her broom up, and underhanded the Quaffle into an unguarded hoop.

Oliver laughed good-naturedly. "Okay, okay, you got me," he grinned, heaving the Quaffle in Katie's direction.

Katie and George passed the Quaffle amongst themselves until they got to the other side of the pitch. Katie had the Quaffle and she sped up on her broom. When she was nearly beside Fred, she yelled his name and acted as if she were going to hit him square in the face. Fred ducked and Katie threw the Quaffle through the hoop, giving a little spiral away with her broom as an added touch. Oliver nearly fell off his broom he was laughing so hard. Fred looked slightly embarrassed, but he took it as a man, telling Katie off for acting as if she were going to ruin his 'perfect complexion'.

George intercepted the next play Angelina tried to make by sheer luck. Angelina attempted to throw the Quaffle to Alicia, who was on the other side of George, but the Quaffle slipped and she threw it wrong. George was so surprised by the act that he dropped it and Katie caught it below them. When she tried to pass it to George, Alicia intercepted it, sticking her tongue out at George with an impish grin.

Katie made the best play of the game. She and George were flying, passing the Quaffle between themselves with ease, and then they reached the hoops. Katie acted as though she was going to try to shoot the Quaffle through the hoop and Fred hurdled over in the direction to guard it. Then, she threw the Quaffle over Fred's head, to George, who got the play with ease. Everyone agreed that it was an ingenious play and Katie blushed from the praise.

When the score was at 20/50 in Oliver's team favor, it became especially brutal. Fred had just blocked a particularly harsh throw by Katie and he threw the Quaffle to Alicia. When Alicia made a move too soon that showed she was going to throw to Angelina, Katie blocked Angelina and Alicia held onto the Quaffle irritably. She flew halfway across the pitch and then her eyes fell upon George, who was zooming away from her. With a wicked look on her face, Alicia threw the Quaffle with all her strength, nailing George square in the back with the thick ball. It looked like it hurt tremendously and George nearly fell off his broom. When the Quaffle had fallen to the ground completely, the irate looking younger twin looked at the cause of his pain and furrowed his brow.

"Why you little…" he fumed, flying close to the snickering woman. The others in the pitch hurriedly joined them. The girls tried not to laugh while Fred looked equally furious and Oliver looked stunned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Fred – oops, I mean George," she said, laughing louder when she called him the wrong name intentionally. George's face turned magenta.

"You hit me on purpose!"

"It was a bad throw you berk," Alicia snapped. "I meant to throw it to Angelina, but missed."

"You did not! Angelina was clear on the other side of the pitch! Katie was blocking her!"

"Oh, really? I would have sworn," and Alicia let her voice drop. "Well, in any case, I'm sorry." She did not sound sorry at all.

"No you aren't," George sputtered.

"I am so, you can't prove it any differently," Alicia growled. "Come on, let's finish this bloody game. First team to a hundred points wins."

The rest of the game was filled with vicious fouls against Alicia and George. After the Quaffle hit Alicia in the arm, she stole the Quaffle from George while nearly shoving him off his broom, and the two engaged in a tug-of-war fight after Alicia tried to steal it again. The others could only watch. Fred was astounded at George, who was usually considered the more gentle and kindly of the twins and Katie and Angelina looked indignant. Fred obviously realized that Angelina would be furious at him if he did not try to stop George.

"George, come off it," he yelled to his twin after George grabbed Alicia's broom by the tail and would not let go. "It's just a game!"

Neither George nor Alicia would stop terrorizing each other. Oliver watched on with a deep regret. He should have just invited Katie, he kept telling himself. However, what was done was done, and before long, Oliver bet that one of the two would end up needing to go to St. Mungo's.

He was half right.

When the score was at 90/80 in team Oliver's favor, George threw the Quaffle straight at Alicia and it hit her off guard. She fell off her broom and hurtled to the ground nearly eight feet below her. Katie screamed and Angelina tried to catch her friend before she could land. She was unsuccessful as Alicia landed on her back, winded for a moment. Then, the short-haired witch jumped to her feet and began yelling at George.

"What the hell was that you bloody ignoramus?" she screamed. George, who looked mildly remorseful landed beside her and tried to apologize. Oliver and Fred landed short after and all they could do was watch the spat.

"Alicia, are you okay?" George asked. Alicia did not blink an eye.

"Am I okay?" she mimicked. "Yeah, I'm fine, George. All you did was make me fall off my broom eight feet from the bloody sky and hire some whore to work at your shop and not even _tell _me before I show up to try and take a picture for my column! You are a bastard, George Weasley! A bastard!" She stomped her foot, giving the speech a very juvenile appeal.

"You're the one that went all crazy and cut off most of your hair just because I once told you I liked it and you wanted to get back at me," George retorted.

"I did not," screamed Alicia, "I wanted a change! It was getting too bloody hot to have such long hair in Britain! It's too muggy and annoying and it gets frizzy and…" Her hands fumbled with her short hair. She saw George giving her a dubious expression. She slapped her arms to her sides and she scowled at him. "I hate you sometimes, George! You're infuriating!"

"You're mad at _me_?" George fumed. "Just because I hired Verity since Fred and I were swamped with work? She's just some employee, Alicia."

"You could have hired Lee, Angelina, or even Roger Davies!" Alicia rebuked.

"Why the hell would I want to hire Roger Davies?" George yelled. "He's your ex-sex-toy, you bloody slut! How many guys have you had sex with, Alicia? Ten? You go through guys like you're going through paper towels and they aren't that long-lasting stuff!"

"At least I get something, you prude," Alicia retorted, "That's the reason why no one wanted to go with you to the Yule Ball. Not even Moaning Myrtle would have wanted to go with you! You had to ask out a third year and she probably only went since she wouldn't have been able to go if not with you. I doubt you've ever even snogged anyone!"

"So why are you afraid that I hired Verity if I'm such a prude?" George demanded. Alicia realized her mistake and without anything to think of, she slapped his face, leaving a bright red handprint on George's cheek.

"To think that I ever wanted to go out with you!" she snarled. "I hate you, Weasley!"

George, who drew his wand out, hit her with a spell. Immediately, she was on her back again. Alicia stomped to her feet, her wand in her hands now, and yelled a curse at him. He did a semi-flip before landing on his stomach, his nose breaking immediately. When he stood, blood poured from his nose and he muttered a spell at Alicia, which made her flip upside down for a few seconds before the spell gave and she fell.

Katie and Angelina grabbed Alicia's arms and hauled her to her feet while Fred tried to control his twin. Oliver stood in the middle, his arms outstretched, palms down, looking like a referee. "Bloody hell you gits," he roared, "would you just shut it? Go in the house Alicia, cool off a bit. George, you stay out here, I'll get you some water."

The five nodded in return. Katie and Angelina began to lead Alicia into Oliver's house. Fred called, "Angie, wait!" But Angelina merely gave him a sour look and stuck her nose high in the air and stormed away with a teary-eyed Alicia and an enraged Katie. Oliver followed at a safe distance, giving Fred and George an apologetic glance and shrug. Once they were in the kitchen, the girls sat down at the table while Oliver got them some water.

"I don't even know why I let him bug me so much," Alicia sighed, flipping her hand through her short hair. "I wish I hadn't cut my hair so short… I kind of miss it."

"It looks so good, though," Katie replied evenly, smiling at her friend. Alicia's eyes lightened.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and short hair is all the rage with the Muggles this year – or so it said in _Vogue_," Katie said. Alicia groaned.

"So I look like a freaking teeny-bopper Muggle?" she wailed.

Angelina shot Katie a sharp look. "Not helping, Katie," she muttered. The blonde girl blushed. Oliver served the three girls large glasses filled with ice-cold water before placing two waters on a tray and making it levitate then float to Fred and George outside.

"I wish I hadn't done my very first article on them," Alicia murmured, "no matter how famous they're becoming. I don't want to even think about _him_ any more. He's a complete jerk." The other two girls sighed.

"You could always change your article, when's it due?" Angelina asked. Alicia propped her chin in her hand.

"A week from yesterday. Six days. Who in the bloody world am I going to meet between now and six days from now that is famous, semi good-looking, nice, dedicated, and someone who prescribes to _Witch Weekly_ would want to read about?" The three girls exchanged glances.

Suddenly, glints lighted in their eyes and all three heads turned to stare at the unobtrusive figure of Oliver, who was leaning against his counters, staring blankly into space. When he realized all eyes were on him, however, he stood straighter and raised an eyebrow. He was sure he did not want to know what they were talking about, as the evil glint in Alicia's honey eyes spelled trouble.

"No," Oliver said at once, not even knowing what he was saying 'no' to.

"Oliver! I can't possibly publish such nice things about George after all he's done to me recently! Please, let me interview you for my first article, Oliver! I would be forever in your debt!"

Oliver didn't really want his face and biography to be at every street corner in the wizarding world. He didn't want his teammates bugging him about his short encounter with fame. He was naturally modest and shy; he did not want people knowing so much about him when he didn't know them!

"I dunno…"

"Oh shove off," Alicia insisted, "I'm not Rita Skeeter or anything, Oliver!"

Finally, when it became apparent that Alicia Spinnet would not say no for an answer, Oliver agreed. While Alicia Disapparated home to get her quills, parchments, and wizard camera, Oliver said goodbye to Fred and George, who left promptly. It seemed George looked just as down as Alicia had and Oliver didn't have the heart to tell him why the girls were staying when the twins asked. It would be a definite shock to see that instead of the free advertisement for the Weasleys' Wizards Wheezes on the new edition of _Witch Weekly_'s new column _Which Witch_ it would be a biography on Oliver Wood.

When Alicia returned with a large red back in her hands, she set her work on the table in the dining room and propped a quill on a parchment. "It takes short-hand notes, nothing more," Alicia reassured at Oliver's concerned glance.

Katie and Angelina sat a short ways beyond the interview, watching interestedly, trying not to giggle at Oliver's embarrassed blush. Alicia began shooting off questions left and right, from his birth date to his parent's names, to his upbringing, his hobbies (though she rarely needed to ask for it was obviously Quidditch), his favorite color, etc. Oliver answered each question seriously, wiping his brow at the more personal questions and trying to keep such things that made him awkward to himself. However, Alicia knew him so well she could fill in the gaps that he didn't say – which was entirely another point why he didn't want her to interview him for a national newspaper. She knew too many things about him that were bad.

When Alicia was done, she packed up her things, took a snapshot of Oliver who managed a smile. She thanked him profusely, even giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Oliver said goodbye to the girls, telling Katie he'd see her during the robes' fitting, which was in about a week.

When Oliver finally closed the door to the last of his guests, he found that it was dark outside and he was starving. He ate a quick meal, cleaned up his Firebolt with the handy broom polishing kit Harry had suggested for him to buy, fed his cat and owl, and went to bed. He only hoped that he didn't regret the interview with Alicia.

- - - - - -

Approximately a week after the nearly fatal day that involved most of his old Quidditch team, Oliver Wood sat at his dining table, eating a light breakfast of biscuits and scones while he read his new letters. He had a couple, one from his parents, one the new addition of _Witch Weekly_ (he decided to read it last), another from Imogene rescheduling the fitting to two days' from that day instead of three, and the last bills. Oliver did not subscribe to _Witch Weekly,_ but Alicia had promised to send him the edition with him inside when it was released. First, however, Oliver tore open his parent's letter, sipping on his cup of coffee while he read his mother's loopy cursive hand.

_Dear Oliver,_

_It's your dear old mum again. I just wanted to say how proud I am of you. I know I say that quite often but you are really an accomplished individual, knowing that you are just barely out of school. I remember when I was your age; I wasn't on some internationally known Quidditch team, doing all sorts of interesting things!_

_You must be wondering why your crazy mum is praising you since it isn't your birthday nor is it any other national holiday. Well, in my mail today, I got my subscription of _Witch Weekly _and I do say I saw something interesting within it! Your smiling face was on the new column by that darling witch Alicia Spinnet. I was shocked! Why hadn't you told us that you had had an interview with her? No matter, dear, I enjoyed it all the same._

_It even brought tears to my eyes when you were quoted saying that your hero were your parents. I've done a lot of things in my life that turned out wrong, but you are number one on my right list! Dad sends his love too, dear; I cannot wait to see you again. You'll be a star soon, mark my words!_

_Hugs and kisses,_

_Mum_

_xoxoxoxox_

_PS: I'm not just saying you're terrific because I'm your Mum. I'm saying it because you really are. Stop being so modest and be proud of yourself!_

Oliver stared at the letter. His mother was positively gushing about him. What exactly did Alicia put in that column? Oliver shuddered to think. He knew his mother wanted him to be everything that she couldn't be since she had given birth to him when she was eighteen – fresh out of school. But he also knew that she was a realist, that she had known the chances that he would just be a nameless idiot trying to be a pro-Quidditch player. To read the words that his mother thought he'd be a star someday… now that was some powerful persuasion on the parts of Alicia Spinnet! If it had been his dad who handed out compliments left and right, Oliver would not have been so shocked. But it was his mother, who always said, "Everyone wants to be rich and famous. Only those who have luck are. It takes more than skill, dear. Don't be disappointed."

Oliver reached eagerly for _Witch Weekly_ and tore open to the page where he found, to his shock, a giant picture of his own face staring back, awkwardly smiling. "Bloody hell is this weird," Oliver muttered with a shake of his head. His eyes ran to the beginning of the article.

**WHICH WITCH:**

_**A Rising Star**_

_**By:**_

_**A. J. Spinnet**_

_Handsome, dedicated, and talented are words that describe just who Oliver Wood is. Recently accepted onto Puddlemere United's reserve Quidditch team, the young man has yet to make his debut with stardom, but that time will come soon. Still, such a thing has not gone to his head. When asked what he would like to be referred to during the interview, he replied, "Oliver is fine. Not Mr. Wood. The only 'Mr. Wood' I know is my father and I don't think he'd like me stealing his title so soon."_

_As a child, Oliver spent most of his days flying on his father's broom, a Silver Arrow. His parents, Kristofer and Colleen, encouraged him to follow his dreams. Oliver says that his parents inspired him to be what he is today through their hard work and optimism during his childhood. Fittingly, while Oliver was attended Hogwarts, he was accepted onto the Quidditch team during his second year as keeper. Even at a young age, everyone could tell that the tall boy was going to make a mark upon Quidditch history in Hogwarts that would never be matched._

_He preceded Charlie Weasley in being captain of the team in his third year after the former graduated and he settled into his duties easily. He was dedicated and made sure that everyone on his team was equally keen to exceed any expectations set for them. His dream became his only mindset: to win the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup during his reign as captain. Such a dream accounted for the many nightly practices, pep talks, early morning wake-up calls, and daily training though rain and snow._

_Oliver explained that he had nearly given up hope but his parents told him to "not be disappointed with the hardships life throws." He said he realized that life was not going to be easy just because he wanted something so he decided to push his team even harder – more so than ever before. He created a magnificent team but downfalls were around each corner, loosing him the cup year after year._

_Finally, during Oliver's last year at Hogwarts, his hard work and dedication came through. He won the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. His winning team was made of Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, and Alicia Spinnet as chasers, Fred and George Weasley as beaters, and none other than Harry Potter as seeker. During his final game, talent scouts from Puddlemere United watched the most outstanding effort anyone had ever given for a long time (unbeknownst to Oliver at the time). They contacted Oliver after graduation and offered him a position on their reserve team._

_Today Oliver is still on the reserve team, acting as a leader for his fellow teammates still. His dedication paid off, which is an inspiration story for every boy or girl who has a dream that seams unreachable. He was not handed his opportunities, he worked for them and was rewarded them after many failures. He hopes to someday kick off the pitch as a first string keeper of Puddlemere United someday. If his dedication does not decrease, his chances are more than likely._

_When asked about any steady girlfriends, Oliver blushed and became awkward. He said his 'love life' was on hiatus due to his rock-hard schedule of Quidditch practice. However, he is attending a fellow Puddlemere United reserve teammate's wedding with the charming Katie Bell, one of his ex-chasers during his Hogwarts years._

"_I really owe my success all to my parents," Oliver pressed near the end of the interview, "if not for them, I wouldn't be here." He chuckled nervously, "Well, not only that but I wouldn't be half of who I am today. I guess you could say they're my heroes… they're the only two people who were always there for me. They taught me that everyday people don't get handed big things on silver platters. You actually have to put yourself out there and try."_

_And try he has done. He is still considered the best keeper that Hogwarts has ever seen and perhaps this title will stretch to the best that the world has ever seen someday._

He was still trying to recover from the letter when he heard a tap on the glass. Oliver looked over and saw three owls perched on his windowsill, waiting with envelopes in their beaks. When Oliver opened the window, he found that two more owls were coming, and his eyebrows raised in astonishment. "What the…" he muttered while he reached to grab the letter from the owl that was beginning to become impatient, pecking at his arm irritably. When Oliver ripped open the letter, frilly handwriting met his eyes and a fowl aroma of too much perfume spells met his nose.

"'_Dear Oliver, I read your interview and think you are the best thing that's happened in all of Quidditch…' _Bloody hell!" Oliver raced his fingers through his short hair. Even more owls flew in through his opened window, now clustering on his dining room table. There had to be at least twenty-five by that moment…

Oliver only knew one thing while he tried to get the letter from each of the owls before they could make a mess on his table. His teammates were going to tantalize him for years!

- - - - - -


	4. The Consequence

_Author's Note:_

_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and left feedback, I'm so sorry this chapter has taken so long to come out. I was hit by a lot of stuff to get done and this was last on my "To Do" list. Sorry again. I hope you all enjoy!_

_-Kamuela_

- - - - - -

More fan owls came throughout the rest of the day, some even appearing the following as Oliver was getting ready for the Quidditch practice. While some of the fan-mail was appreciating his skill, modesty, and good looks (to which Oliver was extremely embarrassed), other fan-mail was mocking him (though there were few of these). He remembered that Harry Potter got many types of feedback to his edition to the Quibbler and thought it was only natural to have every point of view. He was not offended.

Before he left for practice, Oliver received a pounding on the door that nearly made him hit the roof he jumped so high. Oliver hurried to get the door, looking through the peephole curiously. It was Fred and George, the latter looking extremely livid, his face as red as his hair, his fists clenched to his sides. Oliver thought twice about opening it up. Instead, maybe he could just leave to practice right then and forget about the whole confrontation. It was be less stressful, after all.

"Open up the damn door Wood, we know you're in there!" it was of course George, who was yelling angrily at the wooden separation device. Oliver scratched his arm. There was still time to leave. "I know you're in there! I can hear you breathing with my hearing enhancers on!" Sure enough, with another spy through the peephole, Oliver could see that his ears were nearly twice the normal size.

He held his breath and hurried from the door. Maybe George would think it was his cat that was breathing or something else. Desperately, Wood tried to shoo the three owls that flew in the window while keeping himself from breathing. The owls flew to him and began to peck at him, wanting him to take the letters they were carrying. By then, the oxygen deprivation was wearing at him and his lungs ached to take a quick breather. However, Oliver kept one hand clamped over his mouth and nostrils and the other flapping about him trying to wave away the owls from him. What a comical sight he must have—

"It's nice to see one of us still has our sense of humor."

Inhaling noisily and letting the owls drop the letters at his feet if only for them to give another decisive peck at him and fly away peevishly, Oliver saw the furious forms of Fred and George Weasley staring at him in his living room. Oliver fixed the collar on his shirt before taking a long breath. They were going to kill him by the looks of their bright magenta faces. They were going to string him up by his toes and rip him to shreds. How could they have gotten in? Unless…

"Luckily for us, the door was unlocked."

Curse his trusting personality trait and lack of close neighbors!

"Unluckily for you, we subscribe to _Witch Weekly_," said one of them. With a shudder, Oliver realized he couldn't tell which was which, worsening the situation multitudinously.

"Huh," Oliver said, his voice sounding quite squeaky. Flashbacks of third year plagued his memory for a moment. He shook his head. _Lie_, his mind ordered him. He subconsciously nodded. "I must not have heard you at the door." He bent down and picked up the letters scattering the ground just by his feet. "Letters from my Mum… She worries."

"She better worry, Oliver Wood, when you steal our column!" Still Oliver could not figure out who was Fred and who was George. Couldn't they call each other by first names sometime soon?

"I don't know what you're talking about," Oliver replied, trying desperately to kick the fan-mail underneath his table. "Would you, _civilized_ friends of mine, wish to share a cup of tea with me?"

One of the twins (still he did not know who) reached forward and grabbed the letters from Oliver. He tore one open and a foul, girly perfume scent filled the room. Oliver looked over in horror and saw kiss marks soaking through the giant purple-bordered, cursive flourished, note labeled to _My Quidditch Dreamboat_.

"Ha-ha," Oliver snatched the letter from the twin's peering eyes. "Mum… she's funny, isn't she?"

"Stop playing dumb, Wood. Look," and a newspaper hung midair in front of the Quidditch player. He looked guiltily and saw much to his chagrin, his picture smiling awkwardly back at him. "It's by Alicia. Now George and me--" _Bingo,_ thought Oliver successfully, _it's Fred talking_ "--know that she was supposed to put our story in it, how we opened up our new shop. It would bring in so much publicity! We need more clients, Wood. A business always needs more clients. Now tell me, why did you think that you of all people would steal that chance from us when we are your friends and when we need this publicity much more than you?"

Oliver scratched his elbow, avoiding eye-contact, and said, "Well… with how mean George was being to her yesterday, Alicia didn't want her first column to be of you."

"She what?" yelled George. Oliver began to repeat what he said, but George began to rant. "We were fighting on a personal level. Not business! When it begins to affect our daily salary, _then_ we have a problem! Fred, I'm going to have a HF." Fred colored while Oliver looked at him oddly.

"A what?" he sputtered. Fred covered his ears.

"A howler fit, mate. Mum had these all the time. We can't let him do it or else Alicia will never post our interview!" Suddenly, Oliver had an ally against the twin terrors and he was extremely thankful. Nodding, Oliver tried to console the inconsolable.

"George… I'm sure no one reads those stupid columns."

Two more owls flew through the open window and dropped letters at Oliver's feet. Coloring, he kicked them underneath the table to join the other fifty letters fangirls were sending him. George pulled out his wand.

"Forge, buddy, I'm sure Oliver is right. I mean, we should be glad that Alicia didn't use us for her first article. If she sucked, that would be very detrimental to our business, right? We should thank him for being the guinea pig!" reasoned his twin. George looked as though he were considering the possibility. Oliver nodded.

"Most of these letters are hate mail anyway," he lied. George's eyes lit up.

"Really? Did you get any of that skin melting puss in your mail, yet?"

"No, but the day's still young." Oliver prayed he got through to George. "But by the time your column will get around, I'm sure the public will like her a little better and your article will be a hit. See, she meant this as a compliment to you."

George's face lightened considerably. "She must really hate you, then. Sorry 'bout that."

Oliver sighed. "It's okay. Believe me." Oliver nearly fell into the nearest chair; the relief that neither of his two friends were going to kill him was overwhelming. "So you guys are okay now?"

George nodded glumly. "Yeah."

Fred agreed. "As long as she posts our article for the next edition I'll be fine."

"You might want to apologize to her then," Oliver said, feeling as though he were stating the obvious. George got a look of horror on his face.

"Me apologize to her?" he sputtered. "Why?"

"For knocking her off her broom, that's why you dolt," Fred said calmly. George sobered.

"Okay. Not for hiring Verity though. I refuse to do that. Not after she snogged Roger Davies right in front of my on purpose one Valentines Day. I'd rather chew my foot of than do that."

It sounded quite dramatic, but in honesty, George was just as hurt as Alicia. They were mad at each other for the same reason, which was being involved in someone of the opposite sex's life. Once the twins were as calm as they could be and they declared they no longer wanted to burn Oliver's flat to the ground, Oliver realized that he had better be leaving for practice soon or else he would turn up late.

"I'm glad you two are feeling better," Oliver said, "but I better get going to practice." Fred nodded looking at his watch.

"Blimey, you're right! We better get back to work. I hope Verity didn't jam the cash register again, she sure is awful with that kind of stuff," Fred said. George nodded.

"See you soon, Wood."

Oliver let the twins out before he gathered all of the letters in a large pile. He left the window open so none of the owls would crack it whilst trying to deliver such important letters. Shaking his head, he put his cat in his bedroom so she wouldn't decide to jump out of the window while he was gone. He really didn't want to have to search for her when he returned home. By this time, Oliver was nearly ready to go. All he needed was his broom, which was positioned above his fireplace proudly. The clock chimed ten. He was going to be late to the extra practice he had called! Cursing, Oliver grabbed his broom and Disapparated shortly after.

Once at the practice field lockers, Oliver finished changing into his practice robes and putting on the chest protector and wrist guards. He was nearly five minutes late. He rushed onto the field if only to find half of his team lounging on the grass underneath the shade of a big tree. The other half was not even there at all. Oliver slowed to a walk when he saw that Lovell was tossing and catching a defective snitch idly, the rest of the players underneath the tree in similarly vegetative states. That is, until they saw Oliver. Jennings was the first, and he stood, waving his arms about him idiotically.

"Ahoy there! Are you Oliver Wood?" he called dramatically. He turned to his friends. "D'you think he'd sign my subscription of _Witch Weekly_?" The team all sniggered.

"Must not think punctuality is a good thing now that he's famous, eh?" one of the other chasers, Trent Smitty said, prodding Jennings in the ribs.

"Ha ha, very funny, guys," Oliver said sarcastically. "Let's just forget about it and get practicing--"

Zoë Daniels snapped, "Wait, I was late last practice and I got lectured at what a sin tardiness is and here you are, late, and you can just blow the whole thing off without us saying anything?"

"You know what, I'm sorry for being late. But what do you want me to do?" Oliver roared. "Somewhere find a Time-Turner, go back in time, and come here earlier? Good Lord you people are idiotic! So I had a rough morning and am a little late."

After his long-winded rant, Oliver's face was nearly completely red. He stopped, breathing heavily, and looked wildly about at his teammates who all had humorous looks on their faces. They gave each other a sidelong glance and they bust up laughing. Oliver felt the tension in his shoulders increase and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline. What in Merlin's name was so bloody funny? Lovell was the one to speak first.

"Wood, you're five minutes late. It's no big deal. Relax, mate," the seeker of the team laughed. Oliver, however, still looked tense. Jennings stood and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, as if he were going to explain something that needed moral support.

"Look around you, buddy. The only people here are Daniels, Lovell, Smitty, me, and now you. We're freaking missing one beater and one chaser who aren't likely to turn up until the last fifteen minutes of practice. _You_, my friend, aren't late. We just wanted to make a big deal out of it since you're always to on-time it's bloody annoying! If we had known how much you were going to freak out, we wouldn't have done it though," Jennings explained with a growing smile on his face. Daniels nodded.

"Sorry for freaking you out, Wood, you looked like a madman, your eyes all huge with a red face," she said. "We're cool now, though, right?"

Oliver offered a nervous laugh to escape him. "Yeah, we're cool." It really was a humorous thing to do, but since it happened to him, it didn't feel quite as fun. Oliver rolled his shoulders to shake off that tense feeling for good. "Sorry I'm late guys, this morning's been complete hell."

"What is your picture in _Witch Weekly_ not as good as you had hoped? Wanted to get one of those Lockhart smiles on, did you mate? Or had you hoped to win that cheesy smile award?" teased Smitty. Oliver was finally relaxing.

"Actually, it's _Witch Weekly_'s Most Charming Smile Award and yeah, I did happen to want to win it," Oliver declared. The team laughed.

"Glad to see you have your humor back," Daniels said. "Now lets go get practicing so Wood can really yell at those two that are late." She grinned wickedly. "Sources tell me that Robinson's late 'cause he got drunk last night."

"Where's your sources?" Smitty demanded. He and Bert Robinson were good friends. Daniels cocked an eyebrow.

"Mine eyes, Smitty. I _was_ after all the one handing him the drinks."

The teammates had a good laugh before they mounted their broomsticks and got busy to practice. Oliver felt admirably lighter and he could not help but to think how great a team he had.

- - - - - -

"I look like a bloody penguin," Lovell muttered, surveying himself in the mirror at the back portion of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. It was slightly true, even Oliver had to admit, due to the excessively long tail on the dress robes. It was a black suit with a fuchsia tie underneath to go along with Imogene's wedding colors. Oliver's suit was exactly like Lovell's besides the fact that Oliver's coat did not have the long tail. Besides Oliver, Jennings was going to be the usher and he was escorting Imogene's maid-of-honor down the aisle. It was a slightly less than typical wedding, as mostly there was only one groomsman, being the best man. However, the couple was anything but traditional, so it was quite fitting.

"You look fine, mate," Jennings said, surveying himself in the mirror quite pompously. He twirled a tall hat before setting it on his head crookedly. "Now all we need are hats. How do you like this one?"

"Pretty damn stupid," Lovell muttered. The wedding jitters were obviously getting to him. He kept on looking at the curtain that was separating the wedding party as it was bad luck to see the bride before the big day. Madam Malkin was so strict with the rule she had even put a silencing charm on the curtain so neither side could listen to what the other was saying. "Hey Wood, would you go to the other side and get Madam Malkin for me? I would but the old coot probably put a charm on it to kill the groom if he tried crossing over."

Although he was slightly nervous about invading the girls' side of the shop, Oliver nodded. He let himself through the end of the curtain and when he looked inside he was at once bombarded with girls' voices cooing how great each other looked. They all were silent when they saw the intruder and Oliver felt extremely out of place. He surveyed the girls while switching his weight to his other foot and placing his arms behind his back nervously. There were six girls in the room, Imogene, Katie Bell, and four of her other bridesmaids, including Lorraine Munch and the maid-of-honor being her cousin and best friend, Tamires Hennessey. Tamires looked a lot like her cousin in the face, but she was taller and thinner with a more common shade of brown hair. The bridesmaids were dressed in fuchsia dresses that fell just above the knee in length with tiny beaded straps. It was a simple dress, but Oliver saw Katie and his breath caught in his throat.

She looked beautiful. Her hair was curled at the bottoms, falling down to her elbows. Her make-up was done to perfection, and she was wearing black stiletto high heals. She was the prettiest girl in the room, Oliver thought proudly. And she was going to the wedding with him. A warm feeling settled in Oliver's chest. He sure was lucky. He gave her a small smile, which she returned.

Finally, when Oliver could tear his eyes away from Katie, he saw Madam Malkin walking at finishing pinning Imogene's wedding dress to fit her perfectly. The dress was strapless and made of silk chiffon with beadwork designs along the bodice, waist, and hem of the dress. Oliver cleared his throat and Madam Malkin turned about with pins in her mouth. Her eyebrows shot up and she made a suffocating noise.

"Out!" she cried decisively after she removed the pins from her mouth. "No man is supposed to be in here! Get out!"

"The groom needs your assistance," Oliver replied calmly. Madam Malkin frowned.

"I'll get there when I can, young man," she snapped. After one more vicious look, the elderly woman turned to continue her pinning. Oliver gave a slight bow to the giggling ladies before returning to the proper side of the curtain.

"What'd she say?" Lovell asked, frowning at his reflection yet again. Jennings had put a bolero hat on his head by then that looked ridiculous.

"She'd be here in a minute."

"How'd the girls look?" Jennings asked. "I'm about ready to look in there myself."

"Don't, I think Madam Malkin might die of a heart attack. The girls looked great. That's all I'm saying." Oliver smiled at the thought of the beautiful Katie Bell. Shaking his head free of such thoughts, Oliver looked at Lovell once more with the crazy black hat on. "Take that awful hat off. You look absurd."

Lovell colored and removed the hat. "Jennings made me."

Finally Madam Malkin returned to the room and after one look at the extremely long penguin like tail on the suit, she shook her head. With a flick of her wand, she shortened them and immediately Lovell looked much better.

When the fittings were done and the clothes returned for the slight adjustments, everyone left besides Katie and Oliver who went to a bench to chat before they left for their homes. Katie still looked beautiful, Oliver thought, dressed in just plain jeans and a white tube top.

"So how'd you like everyone?" asked Oliver. Katie's face lit up.

"Oh, they're all so nice. Especially Imogene. She's absolutely a doll," Katie smiled. "She made sure that I knew everything that was going on during the wedding. It sounds like it's going to be so much fun. She even invited me to her bridal shower. I think I'll at least make an appearance."

"That's good, I've always liked her. She's very nice and quite perfect for Finn. They're both so nice they'll probably donate all their money to needy causes and be left with nothing," Oliver teased. Katie laughed.

"Now, do tell, what are you doing for the bachelor party?"

Oliver tensed. "Well, I planned we would go to go to the Three Broomsticks and just enjoy a night together."

Katie cocked an eyebrow. "No strippers or excessively drunken women falling upon your laps?"

"Not unless the populace of the Three Broomsticks decides to act quite irrationally upon that night," Oliver replied evenly. "I am quite certain Imogene would kill me if I took her fiancée to a strip club. She might be charming and kind when she is happy, but dare not make her mad."

Katie giggled. "Well I'm proud of you, Oliver. Most men like to make fools of themselves the eve of their weddings. Then, they always pass out during the reception due to their hangovers and the heat wearing a tuxedo causes. Why I see it all the time on the tele."

Oliver could not understand what she meant by that, but he discarded such questions easily. "Oh, but I never said we weren't going to drink ourselves silly, m'dear."

"No, but you wouldn't Oliver. I know you too well."

"Jennings might."

"No, Tamires told me that she would kill him if she had to walk down the aisle with a drunken lout. She is quite a spitfire, nearly the opposite of her cousin. Though she _is_ quite fun. She reminds me of Alicia at times."

"Oh, speaking of Alicia," Oliver said, remembering the previous morning, "Fred and George came to my door after seeing that their article was replaced by mine. They nearly killed me at the spot until I talked to them and they agreed that perhaps this was for the better."

"How'd you do that?"

"I merely told them that it was good Alicia tested out her journalist abilities on me because if the article flopped then it would be their benefit that it didn't hurt their business," said Oliver quite proudly. Katie smirked.

"And they bought it? Your article was smashing!"

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

"Good lying, Oliver."

"Thanks," said Oliver casually slipping his arm around Katie's shoulders. His chest immediately burst into nervous butterflies but he kept his stance quite firmly. "I even may have kept Alicia and George's friendship. I told him to apologize to her."

Katie's facial expression fell. "I'm afraid that didn't happen, Oliver."

"Why?"

"George is now dating Verity steady. Turns out Alicia was right in saying there were specific motives for him hiring her. The cow."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Katie looked at her watch. She stood, looking at her friend sadly. "I'm sorry I have to fly off like this but I promised my Mum I'd help her with some things at her house before I went back to school. They'll probably take all the time off I have left too, sadly. So I had better be off, Oliver. I'll see you later, then?"

"Yeah," Oliver said, standing up as well and hugging her tight. "See you later."

As he watched her leave, he suddenly felt extremely proud of himself. His palms were hardly sweating and he had been sitting by her for a good fifteen minutes. Possibly his nerves were loosing their vigor and he would not be so uncomfortable with her anymore. It was hard for him, though, as he really liked her and thought she was beautiful. The thoughts gained him a smile. Perhaps by the wedding he'd even chalk up the courage to kiss his very pretty date!


	5. The Wedding

_It has been a long time since we have met last and I am terribly sorry for the delay. However, life does kick you hard and fast, so I hope you all accept my apology. Hopefully this chapter is well worth the wait! Thanks for all of you who have stuck with me!_

-Kamuela

- - - - - -

The bachelor party was just as Oliver had told Katie it would be. Oliver, Jennings, and Lovell were seated at the bar table of the Three Broomsticks. Oliver was sipping a firewhiskey tenderly as he had never been a big drinker while Jennings and Lovell were on their second double malt whiskey. Well, Lovell was on his second, Jennings had apparently finished his first two and was moving on to his third. With a shake of his head and a smirk, Oliver realized that perhaps his friend would be hung-over tomorrow no matter what Tamires had threatened him with. The pub was quite full with the usual crowd of an odd assortment of different kinds of wizards and witches.

"Can't believe I'm getting married tomorrow," Lovell said, holding his mug up to his eyes to gaze through the murky alcoholic drink. Jennings laughed.

"I can. You've been going out with Imogene long enough. Besides, you two live together, you might as well be married," said the chaser with a hiccup. He looked at his drink scathingly. "You know, I wouldn't have thought these were so strong!"

Oliver laughed. "It isn't called a double shot for nothing, mate."

"Bah! I'll have another one before the night's over I'm sure."

"And do you want Tamires to drag you down the aisle?" laughed Oliver. "You'll be so hung-over you won't know which direction is up or down."

Jennings had a pondering look upon his face. "Ya know, Tamires _is_ quite the looker, especially yesterday in that little white sundress." He whistled. "Boy am I glad she's going with me tomorrow. Maybe I can squeeze in dating her again…"

Lovell looked up. "Don't be hitting on my cousin-in-law, player. She just barely turned eighteen. Fresh out of Hogwarts."

"Yeah but Wood's dating a girl who's still in Hogwarts," Jennings replied despondently.

Lovell smirked. "Katie Bell isn't my fiancé's cousin, Jennings."

Quick to change the conversation before the subject could be explored further, Oliver said, "Tamires went to Hogwarts?"

Nodding, Lovell answered, "Yeah. Imogene did too. Imogene and Tamires are from Wales and lived there all their lives until after Hogwarts when Imogene decided to be involved with the Ministry of Magic and then she moved in with me. Tamires, from what I gather, still lives in Wales and works in some sort of business that deals with the real estate of wizarding families, the zoning, buying, and selling. That kind of stuff."

"Are their family Muggles or wizards?" asked Jennings.

"It's pretty mixed," Lovell replied. "I mean, I think there are more non-magical people in their family that don't even know about Imogene or Tamires' ability to do magic. But then again, my family is no different. The only 'pure blood' I know of personally is Wood and we can all see the malpractice of inner-breeding at its peak." Two pairs of eyes fell upon the Scottish wizard and he cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm not a pure blood," he replied evenly. "I got a Squib aunt who married a Muggle and I'm sure there are a few others in my family somewhere. No one's pure anymore. And if they are, they're just a bunch of hypocrites and liars."

Jennings snorted. "Look at us, a bunch of old men, talking about purities and Muggles. Pfft! Look at all these hot babes walking around. We should really be talking to them." He stood up, nearly tripping during the process. Lovell helped him back to his chair, patting him on the back.

"Maybe you should stick with water for the rest of the night, mate," he said with a sideways smirk to Oliver who was trying not to spew firewhiskey out of his nose while laughing with a rather large mouthful. Finally, when he had got it all under control, Oliver removed his hand from his mouth and shook his head.

"Nothing like having firewhiskey in your nose to wake you up," he laughed.

While Jennings tried to order a new drink and Lovell attempted to talk him into a nice and cold glass of water, Oliver surveyed the pub. There were quite a few fine looking girls in the room, but none of them even came close to Katie Bell in his opinion. Besides, most of them were out on dates or too young/old for him to consider. The front door opened and in stepped two newcomers. The girl was in a very short and revealing red dress with black stilettos while the guy she was with was wearing a black shirt and slacks with a bright red tie. They looked as if they were coming from a party, as they were too fancy to be dressed up for just a local pub, Oliver thought. When the two newcomers came closer, Oliver was surprised to recognize the girl as Alicia Spinnet. She whispered something in her date's ear and they came over to the bachelors' table.

"Oliver!" she cooed, hugging him tight. "This is such a pleasure! I hadn't thought I'd see you here today." She returned to clutching the arm of the man she was with in a death lock. "Do you know Eddie, Oliver? He actually went to Hogwarts too, he was in Ravenclaw."

Oliver shook the other man's proffered hand warmly. "No I don't think we've met before but it's always nice to meet someone new." Eddie withdrew his hand and wrapped his arm around Alicia protectively.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you, Oliver. I do remember hearing your name all over the place when Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup a few years ago. It's nice to finally put a face with a name, mate," Eddie smiled. "I'll get you a drink, then, Alicia?"

"Thanks," Alicia said. Eddie kissed her on the cheek before he left to place an order. Alicia smiled at Oliver. "He's so nice. I met him my last year at Hogwarts, he tried to get me to buy a potion from him that would make me do well on my N.E.W.T. tests. He claimed that's how he got through his O.W.L. tests with so many outstanding scores." She laughed. "Needless to say, I didn't buy it." Her eyes flickered over to her date who was in line at the bar. She fingered the bracelet on her wrist. "So are you going to introduce me to your friends, Oliver?"

"Oh…yeah," Oliver started. "This is Finn Lovell and Eli Jennings. They're both on my Quidditch team. We're here on the occasion of tomorrow being Lovell's wedding."

"Oh congratulations," said Alicia. Lovell thanked her. "You're going to the wedding with Katie, right?" she asked, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Oliver felt a few sweat glands immediately turn into a frenzied state at the sound of her voice. "Err…yeah. Anyway…guys, this is Alicia Spinnet."

"Ah, Spinnet?" Lovell piped up. "So you're the author to our friend's famous article, then?" Alicia nodded.

"Yep. Guilty as charged. So how'd you like it?"

"It was brilliant, especially that fetching picture of Wood on the front."

Alicia laughed. "So did you get any fan mail, Oliver?"

"More than you can imagine. I nearly didn't escape the wrath of two of our dear friends, if you get what I mean."

"Oh, I know," Alicia said, "Katie told me all about it." She smiled as though she were happy about making a certain someone so jealous.

"So…how did you two meet?" Jennings asked.

Olivier said, "Alicia went to Hogwarts and played on the Gryffindor team with me. She's part of the winning team, actually."

"I'm pretty sure that receives applause on its own," Jennings laughed. "Wood never shuts up about that glorifying moment in his school career." Alicia laughed.

"I'm so glad that we won it then; we nearly lost the trophy before we even had it! You should have seen Oliver; he was a mess."

"I was not," Oliver piped in indignantly. "I was extremely confident; I knew we could do it." Alicia and the boys exchanged looks.

"Don't buy it," Jennings replied in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, are we talking about the same Oliver Wood that pukes before a Quidditch game just because he's so strung up on not failing?" Lovell chuckled, "Did he ever give you the 'it's not about winning, it's about not loosing' speech, Alicia?"

The former chaser giggled. "No, but I've heard a few Wood sermons and can fill in the blanks." She looked up and saw that Eddie had sat down at a table with two drinks, looking quite lonely. "I'd better get back to my date, boys. It was nice meeting you all, though."

"Yeah," the guys all chirped in response.

When Alicia stood to make her leave from the table, Oliver was suddenly struck by an odd question and he excused himself to follow her. When he was behind her, he grabbed her arm lightly and she turned, an eyebrow cocked in confusion.

"Alicia… this Eddie guy isn't a rebound date is he?" he asked softly. He knew it was not his business to know, but the question seemed to fly out of his mouth before he could clamp his jaw shut. Alicia colored slightly as Oliver muttered, "I know it's not my place…I just…I don't know…I--" Merlin's beard, he was a mumbling fool! It was a good thing that Alicia took that opportune moment to jump in to his rescue.

"No. I really like him. He's so much nicer to me than George ever was but I was just too stupid to see that me and Weasley just weren't right." Alicia pursed her lips tensely. "Trust me. I wouldn't be wearing this dress and these shoes if it wasn't the real deal, Oliver."

The Quidditch fanatic finally nodded. "Okay," he sighed, "Just be careful Alicia. I don't want to see you get hurt."

Clearly touched, Alicia smiled. However, she said in a strong voice, "I won't. I've been taking care of myself my whole life and I'm fine so far." She hugged Oliver again. "It was nice to see you, but I better get back to my date."

When Oliver returned to his friends, Jennings was grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Wow, what a cute little firecracker!"

"No," Oliver laughed, shaking his head. "You cannot date her."

"Ah…none of you are any fun."

The rest of the night went without flaw; it was quite nice, Oliver thought, for the three friends to be enjoying such a nice night together. After the Three Broomsticks was closed and the boys went home, Oliver stretched out on his bed with his cat at his feet and tried not to think about the next day. If he even though about how much time he was going to be spending with Katie Bell, little nervous butterflies erupted in his stomach and he felt sure that he was going to do something stupid…something he'd regret. Therefore, he tried his best not to think about that and before he knew it, he was asleep, thankfully.

The next morning, Oliver woke up early and got ready for the wedding that was occurring at noon. After feeding his cat and owl, Oliver retied his fuchsia bow tie for the umpteenth time, applied a polishing spell on his shoes, and nearly ruined his hair whilst trying to flatten the curly mess that he had allowed to grow longer than usual it with a relaxing spell. Finally, he was ready at about a quarter to nine and hurried to leave to help with the last minute details. He was quite sure that Lovell was experiencing twice as many nerves as he was and Jennings was doubtlessly in a foul and hung-over mood after downing so much alcohol the previous night. And Oliver may not be a genius when it came to reading other people, but he knew that a stressed out groom and a hung-over groomsman was not going to be a good mix.

The setting of the wedding was called Hollyhedge Estate. The elegant fieldstone manor was nestled in the rolling hills of England. Sitting on over twenty acres of property filled with bountiful floral gardens, waterscapes and classic stone terraces, it was the ultimate fairy tale wedding that made all of the girls go 'ah'. The actual vows were being said in an exquisite courtyard that had stairs leading down to the flat area with a grand water fountain in the middle. The alter was at the base of the stairs, giving the bride her long walk to matrimony that all of the women seemed to yearn for. The setting had large, colorful flowers all around in the long green grass and the sun shined down at the scene with the perfect hue, making Oliver swear someone had to have put a magic touch on it since outside the estate it had looked like rain.

The reception area of the estate was located in a large ceremonial barn that had huge windows on every wall and a grand fireplace on the center of the front wall, giving the area a perfect lighting touch. There were tables set up, all with white table clothes and fuchsia napkins with a tray of the same colored lilies levitating just a few inches off the table. There were twelve cherubs in the room as well, sprinkling glittering dust that disappeared just before it hit the floor. The cherubs all looked merry and fat, dressed in similar outfits of white robes with dark brown curls resting on their foreheads. There was rumored to be a bridal room and Jennings claimed he had looked all over for it, but he couldn't find it. Oliver mused that only females could find it so the bride would not be seen accidentally by the groom, but Jennings claimed the idea was improbable as the manor used to belong to Muggles.

The room the groom and his two assistants were using to get ready in before the wedding was the honeymoon suite that Lovell and his bride would be using that night. It was a large room with dark green colored walls and wood flooring. The suite had a large fireplace that had a magic wood that emitted a pleasant rose scented aroma throughout the whole room. The bed was, of course, the focal point of the room and it had a large canopy with white gauze draping around it and a soft cream colored throw over the bed. Jennings kept giving Lovell suggestive prods in his shoulder, to which the tall blond merely ignored to Oliver's amusement. As the men got dressed, Lovell appeared more than slightly nervous.

"Wow…this is it, right guys? No more late Quidditch practices for me," Lovell laughed, "I'll have a missus at home to take care of."

Oliver shook his head. "You'll be staying late with the rest of us if I see fit," he chided, "Imogene has put up with your Quidditch before you got married; she'll put up with it after your vows too."

"Let's just hope," Jennings said as he lifted his bowler hat onto his head. Although the black hat had looked horrendous on Lovell, it actually suited the chaser quite well. "I'd hate to have to tell Wood here that I couldn't make one of his practices." And the two men laughed. When they sobered, Lovell still appeared slightly nervous. Wood slapped him on the back heartily.

"Hey, it'll be great. Imogene is a great girl and you obviously love her, so what's the big deal about getting married? You'll be very happy, I think," Oliver said. Lovell looked slightly less green in the face.

"You're right," he agreed.

"A 'course I am," Oliver laughed.

There was a loud knock on the door and Jennings let the person inside – or cherub as it appeared to be. This cherub, however, unlike the others that looked cute and rosy, looked grouchy and quite ugly in a Tudor styled clothing and a fake mustache on his upper lip. He dumped some glittering dust on the groom and his two men that didn't disappear, pulled out a 3x3 card and read off it in a monotone voice.

"The vows are being said soon, if you would follow me I will escort you to the premise."

The three men looked at each other, trying to stifle their laughter at the scene being unfolded before them and nodded as they brushed the glittering dust off their jackets. The cherub took off and the three men followed. As they got to the courtyard, Oliver thought with a large gulp that there were quite a lot of people at the ceremony. More people than he could adequately count, he added with a bite of his lip. However, he tried to remain as at ease as he could. He didn't want Lovell to get any more nervous! _It's just like a Quidditch match_, he told himself firmly, _these people are just here to watch the show_.

As he waited at the top of the stairs, Oliver felt his palms begin to sweat. What if he tripped? He _and _Katie would tumble down the stairs to the ground in a horrible snowball effect and everyone would laugh he was sure. At a glance towards a swaying Jennings, Oliver thought with a sudden jerk what if Jennings passed out? There was so much to be nervous about Oliver found himself counting to ten numerous times just to get his heart rate down. He promised himself silently that if he were ever to get married it would be a quiet reception with his parents and her parents only. No crazy gowns, no crazy locations, just simple. Or maybe he'd just elope…

"Oliver?"

Oliver started slightly at Katie Bell's voice and he jumped when he looked up and saw her standing beside him. She looked gorgeous, making Oliver's hands sweat even more. Her fuchsia dress seemed to cling to every curve that Oliver had never noticed before and her shoes were high stilettos, making her legs look extremely sexy. Oliver gulped and offered his arm to his very pretty date. He _really_ hoped he wouldn't trip then.

"Let's get in line then," Oliver said, shaking his head decidedly. He would be fine. Katie nodded and the pair got in line behind Jennings and Tamires. Jennings looked very dazed and Tamires appeared to be slightly irritated but both were standing upright and looked marvelous.

After the cherubs came and began sprinkling the disappearing glittering dust and the music sounded off, the first bridesmaid started the descent upon the stairs. Then the second went and the third and forth. Next, Jennings and Tamires started down the stairs. Before Oliver was ready, he and Katie found it was their turn to go down the stairs and with a shaky smile at his date, he started down the steps. It was not as scary as Oliver had feared. Everyone's eyes were not on him as he was not the groom and Katie was giggling at Oliver as he counted their steps so they wouldn't trip. They were at last down the stairs and Katie pecked Oliver on the cheek and stood beside Tamires at the right side of the chapel. Dazedly, Oliver staggered over to the left side beside Jennings who looked just as nervous as Oliver felt.

Just then, someone said something and pointed up. Everyone's eyes looked up, the music stopped, and Lovell appeared in the frame of the highest window with his broom in one hand. At the crowd's cheers, he jumped onto his broom and flew around, making loops here and there, zigzags all around, and finally he stopped at the alter, hopped off, and handed the broom to Oliver. The display of something similar to Quidditch made Oliver feel much more comfortable and he held the broom with a tight smile on his face. It was something only a Quidditch fanatic would do at their wedding and Oliver liked it.

The music started again and Imogene appeared at the top of the stairs wearing a large white strapless gown and a tiara that had a veil, her bright blonde hair looped in a French twist elegantly. An elder looking man with gray hair and a hooked nose was accompanying her. They descended the stairs leisurely, the bride's face glittering with tears. Imogene looked beautiful and Oliver heard Lovell intake his breath sharply at the sight. Once she was beside her husband-to-be, her father kissed her on her cheek, laid her hands onto Lovell's forearm, and disappeared. It was only then that Oliver realized the form of Imogene's father was a ghost. He had appeared so real, unlike any of the other ghosts that he had seen at Hogwarts, that Oliver had not thought twice. However, now that he thought about it, Oliver remembered ghosts sometimes walked the Earth for a day if they had something to do before they could rest in peace.

After the priest appeared out of thin air, the vows were said, the priest pronounced them husband and wife, they pair kissed, the priest disappeared, and the crowds cheered.

The reception afterwards was much less stressful. There was a group there playing their instruments and singing romantic songs while the guests danced. Imogene and Lovell started off the reception dancing together all by themselves for a moment to a song Oliver had never heard before. It was very romantic and Katie smiled at the scene on Oliver's arm. After the song had finished, the music began to play faster, the foods appeared on the trays, the cherubs stopped throwing the dust, and all the guests began to dance. Katie and Oliver found their own spot dancing together and Oliver felt his heart flutter in his chest at how close he was standing to his date.

"Didn't think you knew how to dance, Wood," Katie teased. Oliver shook his hips a little, making Katie giggle.

"There's a lot of me you don't know about," he returned simply. Katie grinned.

"Oh? What else is there to know about the fabulous Oliver Wood?"

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see," Oliver replied suavely. Katie raised her eyebrow suggestively and the two continued to dance.

A few partners down, Jennings and Tamires were dancing quite provocatively. Apparently, Tamires had forgotten all of her anger at Jennings being slightly hung over. At the scene, Oliver laughed a little and Katie ducked her head into Oliver's shoulder to hide her amusement.

Oliver was surprised at himself at how at ease he felt with Katie. Before, his hands had been sweating up a storm, his heart thumping in his chest harder than before a Quidditch match. But now, he nearly felt comfortable with her hanging onto his arm and him with his face just by hers. It was as if the pair had always danced together. It was as if they were a couple! The thought made Oliver a little nervous, but he pushed aside the anxiety. He was having a great night and he wouldn't let his own over-active imagination ruin it.

After a few dances Katie said she was getting thirsty so the pair sat down and ordered a drink from a floating cherub. The cherub disappeared for a moment, reappearing with their ordered drinks. After handing the drinks to the two patrons, the cherub made a low bow and said if they wanted anything else he would be quite obliged to get it for them. Oliver thanked the little server and turned to Katie with a smile.

"Are you having fun?" he asked.

"The best time," Katie agreed. "This place is so beautiful. I can't imagine what it must like to be married here."

"Pretty damn terrifying," Oliver said at once. Katie laughed but Oliver stood his ground firmly. "Can you imagine all those people staring at you, waiting for you to mess up? Horrible!"

"Horrible?" Katie Bell echoed in an amused voice. "It sounds romantic to me. How else would you love to celebrate one of the best times of your life than with all of the people you love?"

"I still think eloping is the best idea," Oliver pressed and Katie shook her head.

"You know, one day you're going to propose to a girl and she's going to want a huge wedding and you'll give it to her. Because you are just too nice to ever say no to someone who you really care about," Katie said with a satisfied smile. Oliver blushed.

"You know, you're probably right," he muttered. "Damn my Mum for raising me to be a gentleman, eh?"

Katie laughed. After a few more minutes of sitting, the pair stood and began to dance some more, telling the cherub to guard their table with his life if it needed to be. The cherub didn't look as though he was quite avid in making sure no one got their seat but he agreed. They danced a while longer and were having a very grand time during the whole ordeal. A few fast songs chimed up and Oliver was able to show Katie his 'mad' moves that he had been boasting of during one of their conversations a few days ago. Katie continued to laugh a few minutes after each of his moves busted forth and she danced along with a smile on her face.

Pretty soon it was time for cake, and just like always the bride and groom fed each other the first piece. Oliver thought it was quite disgusting when both the bride and groom smashed the piece into each other's face and he told Katie he would never like that to happen to him, but everyone else thought it was cute and laughed along as if they had not suspected it. As Katie and Oliver sat down to eat their slice of cake, Oliver thought of the previous night.

"Katie… I saw Alicia with this other guy, Eddie Carmichael, at the Three Broomsticks. Do you know him?" asked Oliver. Katie took a small sip from her champagne glass before setting it down and placing her hands neatly on her lap.

"Is he tall with freakishly perfect hair?" she asked before re-pinning a lock of hair back into the mess of curls spilling down the back of her head. Oliver laughed.

"Yep."

"Yeah, I know him. I was at Alicia's house with Angelina when he came over with a bouquet of flowers for her. He's really cute and nice," Katie informed Oliver. "He's also an Interrogator of the Wizengamot hoping one day to be the Chief Warlock so he's quite smart though he's a prankster. He relates his intelligence to this stupid potion he tries to sell. But it's just a bunch of phooey I know. Fred and George don't like him much since he stole some of their business when the kids were taking O.W.L. tests last year. Apparently they never got the memo that Eddie's actually smart without the potion."

"Do you think she's just using him to get back at George?"

"Probably. But they are pretty far along for having been dating for just a few weeks. Maybe she was dating him before, put their relationship on hiatus, and now they have resumed what they had before." Katie thought it was sweet how nervous Oliver seemed to be taking all the news. She placed her hand on his, to which Oliver nearly fell out of his chair. Nerves made his stomach ache. "It's really nice of you to be so concerned, Oliver, but I'm sure AJ has it all figured out. She really is quite in tune with what is going to blow up in her face and what is going to be good."

"That's basically what she told me when I told her I was worried about her," Oliver replied, trying to tear all of his thoughts off the fact that they were sitting so close together, her hand actually touching his. He shook his head. "I'm just nervous that she'll get hurt. Nobody messes with my winning team, ya know."

Katie laughed. "I know and I think it's nice of you to make sure she's okay. Just don't push her. She'll be fine."

Oliver nodded.

The wedding reception ended at about midnight. Since the bridesmaids and groom's assistants had rooms at the Hollyhedge Estate they kept dancing an hour after the rest of the guests left for home and the bride and groom left for their suite (at the cat-calls of Jennings). Oliver was having far too much fun to leave for the night, but finally the musicians said they had to go and the cherubs disappeared for the night. The owner of the manor came to show everyone to their room and Oliver felt slightly pressured to say goodnight to Katie in a romantic way before the owner left. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright and his hands sweated again.

"Erm, it was really fun, right?" he asked. Katie nodded.

"Yes, it was." She seemed to know what he wanted to do and she found it quite humorous, making Oliver even more nervous.

"I'll see you in the morning then?"

"Yes…"

"G'night then," and nerves failing him, Oliver just waved as he walked away.

His room for the night was very large with green carpet and white paneled walls. It had a Victorian theme going on with the chairs and the bed. It was a cozy room with candles burning as the only type of lighting. They were those 'clap on and off' candles that had been newly invented by some Seamor Lyte. Oliver found his suitcase had already been emptied and everything was put in the wardrobe with Jennings's things since the chaser was supposed to be sharing the room with him. However, Jennings was nowhere to be seen as of then.

Slightly annoyed with himself for chickening out at the last second, Oliver brushed his teeth with vigor, nearly making his gums bleed he was so rough. After running a comb through his hair and changing into his striped pajamas, Oliver clapped the lights off and hopped into his bed.

He still couldn't believe he had stopped himself from kissing Katie. She was so pretty and he knew she at least liked him a little since she had danced with him all night, so why did he stop? He was just a little chicken. He had no spine! He had just gotten so nervous he didn't know what to do with himself!

Finally, when Oliver had convinced himself he would plant a huge kiss on Katie the next moment he saw her the next morning. Yes, he would do it. He would not shirk away from this slight fear forever! He really cared about Katie and he thought just for a moment that she might like it if he kissed her too. Why wouldn't she? Why, he was slightly good looking (as his mother reminded him often), he was smart, nice, a good Quidditch player (vitally important in his opinion), and he thought there was chemistry between himself and Katie. Wasn't that why he felt nervous whenever she talked to him and sometimes even when she looked at him? Or was chemistry not nerves? Was he misreading his emotions?

_Blah_, Oliver thought to himself savagely, _relationships are really far too complicated. Why, if I had any right sense on my two shoulders at all I'd just forget about any girl at all and just be a single Quidditch player for the rest of my life. Why, that would be the smart thing to do, right?_

But no matter what Oliver told himself would be the 'smart' thing, his heart told him otherwise and he wanted Katie Bell. He wanted to have someone to talk to when he was feeling down, to bring him out of the slumps, to be there when his team won their Quidditch matches, to congratulate him if he ever made a spot on the starting Puddlemere team. Was that so much to ask? And he thought that since Katie and he shared Quidditch as a main interest that maybe it wouldn't be so awkward when they were together. And it wasn't…when they were friends. But as soon as Oliver began to think of making any move on Katie that was more than 'just friends,' his palms sweat, his tongue swelled so he couldn't talk, and his head spun. It was horrible! Was it really worth it?

_Yes,_ Oliver thought begrudgingly, _it is_.

So Oliver rolled over in bed and decided that he would tell Katie just what he thought the next time he saw her. He would ask her to be his steady mate, chum, girlfriend – whatever it was, and hopefully she would say yes. And hopefully, he wouldn't vomit on her shoes from nerves.

Right before Oliver was about ready to fall asleep, there was a knock outside. Thinking it was Jennings, Oliver got up and didn't bother putting on a robe over his pajamas. However, when the door was opened, instead of revealing Jennings, it was instead Katie Bell. Nearly choking on his own spit in surprise, Oliver forgot his promise to himself immediately.

"Hey Oliver," Katie said with a slight wave. "Can I bunk with you tonight? Erm…Jennings decided to join Tamires in our room and I don't really want to spend the night with them. It would be slightly awkward. So…can I come in please?"

And Oliver just nearly passed out from shock.

- - - - - -


End file.
